CURRENT ISSUE

March 2015

Features

How the drone was cleared to shoot.

Richard Whittle

Nine years after leaving Earth, New Horizons closes in on the last of the Original Nine planets, and whatever lies beyond.

The battle for the soul of an airline

Why the Convair Tradewind was a beautiful, versatile, fast failure.

A tribute to McDonnell’s masterpiece fighter jet.

How to train the next generation of pilots—who will never take to the skies.

You think gravity wears you down? Try 12 months without it.

It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. Why did it happen?

Soundings

Discovering a solar system in a grain of sand.

Soundings

A C-17 Globemaster wowed visitors at the Zhuhai Airshow

Michele Travierso

Technically Speaking

Designed in the 1940s, the BUFF shows no sign of retiring.

Above & Beyond

How it went down inside the Rosetta control room that night.

Paolo Ferri

Flights & Fancy

My first crack at “piloting” a real jet didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped

Jim Griffith

In the Museum

Visitors learn about the cold war in a new role-playing game