CURRENT ISSUE
June/July 2018
Features
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RAF 100
Happy birthday to the chaps who gave us the scramble, the “few,” and the world’s first independent air force.
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Cairo to Baghdad
In 1921, the Royal Air Force pioneered a route over 540 miles of empty desert—to deliver the mail.
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Combat Is the Mother of Invention
Seven airplanes that got better in the field.
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Eugene Parker’s Journey to the Sun
Spacecraft will brave its source.
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The Airport Is Sinking
An engineering miracle is still no match for Mother Nature.
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The Other Rocket Man
ULA’s boss doesn’t want SpaceX to have all the fun.
Departments
Shaesta Waiz
An Afghan-American pilot hopes that other young women will follow her flight path.
Letters from a Science Fiction Giant
Exploring the riches of the Arthur C. Clarke Collection at the National Air and Space Museum.
We Control the Space Station
Lauren Cooper, International Space Station Operations Engineer, Johnson Space Center, NASA
Super Stuff
More than 99 percent air and able to withstand forces thousands of times its weight.
Yanks to the Rescue
Blood and Fears: How America’s Bomber Boys of the 8th Air Force Saved World War II