CURRENT ISSUE
April/May 2021
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/3b/ba/3bbada56-405b-4e58-b301-2a17c8e867d5/smithmag-evergreen-banner-1300x290-0823_1.jpg)
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/76/4f/764fa73f-7aa3-4b73-9c86-92e3d3f84cc5/smithmag-evergreen-homepage-mobile-0823.jpg)
Features
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/07/80/0780aa73-fc56-40e8-b466-677a9b231504/06c_am2021_penitentesiceformations_live.jpg)
How to Land on an Alien World
Like explorers of old, planetary probes go where there may be dragons.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/1a/60/1a600aa1-36dd-4f20-bb35-643c1dbf1383/12s_am2021_wright_nasm2013-00427_liveedit.jpg)
:focal(696x208:697x209)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/1e/f0/1ef02cd2-b4e9-42b0-be77-d73e125ba96a/12h_am2021_nicefrance_si-2001-11633_live.jpg)
The Call of a New World
The invention of the airplane shook the globe, and it never looked the same again.
:focal(1871x2521:1872x2522)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/2c/d9/2cd9a43e-5d11-48bb-8ec0-f22a2083c126/05c_am2021_80-g-k-16216_live.jpg)
World War II in Color
Thousands of photographs in government archives bring the war to life.
:focal(1463x1605:1464x1606)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/91/ab/91abef31-5986-487f-8c65-1d8a9182d708/10j_am2021_16874_live.jpg)
Dream Big
Need to move something enormous? Hire the world’s heavyweight champion.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/16/e4/16e4a2e2-e197-4d86-86b6-ab77eed61278/04c_am2021_viewfrombiplanecockpit_live.jpg)
Flight in a Box
How did Microsoft make its latest Flight Sim seem so real?
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/51/36/513650b4-7058-44ad-915a-a00cfdc92f0f/11f_am2021_exoplanetorbitingbrowndwarf_live.jpg)
To Picture a Planet
What will it take to capture images of a distant Earth-like world?
:focal(560x628:561x629)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20/85/20852d26-c0fa-4360-b74b-525bf273574e/02f_am2021_beesseatacmaybefinalsize_live.jpg)
The Buzz Around Airports
Beehives create green spaces where you'd least expect them.
:focal(1040x666:1041x667)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/66/ab/66ab6e6c-09c1-4f6b-b663-74d5990c7043/13a_am2021_rtxi89z_live.jpg)
Return of the Bremen
After a lifetime in exile, Hugo Junkers’ record setter crossed the ocean one last time.
Departments
One World on Earth Day
From the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
The New Rolls-Royce Pearl Runs on Biofuel
With carbon emissions produced by aircraft expected to triple by 2050, the aviation industry is trying to go green.
Sarah Rhoads
The vice president of Amazon Global Air guides her company’s cargo operations during a pandemic.
My Final Flight
As a boy, I’d dreamed of flying. As a man, I was forced to find a new dream.
World's Best Job
A fighter pilot reflects on flying military jets—the way it used to be.
Curtiss 1A Gulfhawk
Aviation hero Al Williams made history—and the case for military airpower—with his celebrated performances between the Great Wars.