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April/May 2018

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Features

Major Doug Pearson

The First Space Ace

F-15 vs. Satellite

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2017 Photo Contest Winners

The best shots from this year’s competition.

Near Shanghai’s Lungwha field

Black Christmas

One disastrous night at the airport in 1946 Shanghai.

Opportunity

Adventures on the Martian Trail

Highlights from a rover’s 14-year trek.

Boron, California, consecrated its ties to test pilots with a town museum.

Where the Wild West Meets the Cosmos

On the far side of Edwards Air Force Base, a quirky museum of flight.

Penguin Poop

Penguin Spotting

And other cool satellite tricks.

Walter E. Lees

Three Days in a (Really) Stinking Airplane

The diesel engine that commanded an endurance record for more than 50 years.

Departments

Soundings

NASA Tries an IMAGE Capture

Amateur astronomers never know what signals they might pick up.

Interview

Interview: Vikas Prakash

Vikas Prakash wants to move cab riders off the ground and into the air.

Above & Beyond

My Week With Willie the Whale

Armed with a copy of the 1954 pilot handbook, I climbed into the F3D Skynight’s cockpit.

Oldies and Oddities

Betting on the Moon

The odds of Neil Armstrong putting a boot on the moon were not good. One man put money on it anyway.

In the Museum

The Strange Tale of Elmo Pickerill

Fake dates, fake radio messages: What else did this early aviator make up?

A&S NEXT

I Love My Job and Here’s How I Got It

Rohaise Firth-Butterfield, U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Candidate

A&S NEXT

Road Trip: On the Trail of a Tornado

Purdue students are among those trying to determine why tornadoes in the southeast are so deadly.

A&S NEXT

Across a Wide Ocean

An invented language contributed to six civilian deaths on American soil during World War II.

Milestone

Small Shot

A new rocket for miniature satellites hopes to find a big market.

Space—the New Golden Age

Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight