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Air & Space Magazine

Dr. Tom Krimigis with a flight spare of the Low-Energy Charged Particle detector currently flying on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Planetary Pioneer

Tom Krimigis, exploring the solar system since 1965.

Red bombs indicate the number of missions Flak-Bait flew.

Secrets of Flak-Bait Revealed

Conservationists find hidden treasures in the Museum’s B-26.

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Flyover Viewers’ Guide

Where and when to watch the World War 2 sky parade on May 8

Workers assemble cylinders on a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine.

The Biggest Industrial Boom in U.S. History

How Roosevelt’s fireside chat changed American culture.

A scale model of Kepler helps Charlie Sobeck visualize the telescope’s orientation as it changes throughout the mission.

A Planet Hunter Takes Home The Prize

Kepler’s mission team is rewarded for ushering in the Era of the Exoplanet with the 2015 NASM Trophy.

A B-17 crew in England finishes its last mission.

Voices of the WW2 Veterans

Fighter pilots, crew chiefs, bombardiers, and factory workers: All had tales to tell.

Surveyor 1 casts its shadow on the moon, June 2, 1966

My Dad’s Moon Vision

Surveyor I’s Extended Family

In 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Spencer Tracy (at right) played Jimmy Doolittle, who led the April 1942 air raid.

What the Movies Taught Us About World War II

The biggest war in human history inspired hundreds of movies. One of them had to be the best.

With 37mm cannon in pods beneath their wings, Junkers Ju 87 Stukas dive to attack in this artist’s conception of the battle of Kursk. From the left, Heinkel He 111 bombers prowl for a target amid the chaos below.

Kursk

The greatest tank battle in history might have ended differently had it not been for the action in the air.

The SpaceX F9R test vehicle is putting the company on the path to reusability.

Launch. Recover. Repeat

If Reusable Launch Vehicles become a reality, it won’t be thanks to NASA.

P-47 pilot Ray Walsh was almost caught by the blast produced when he destroyed an ammunition truck on June 23, 1944. Explosions downed a number of fighter-bombers.

The Day After D-Day

When the beaches were won, P-47 Thunderbolts were ready to take the air war to the ground.

The ball turret, like this one on a B-17 in England in 1943, was designed small to reduce drag, so its gunner usually was the shortest man in the crew.

How to Be a Ball Turret Gunner

To learn to shoot from a bomber, World War II airmen went to the movies.

Mark Robinson takes 16-year-old Dominic Puntoriero on a training flight in an R44.

The Real Helicopter Parents

Families are paying big bucks to put their kids behind the stick.

Pingualuit crater’s circular shape, obvious in a 2007 aerial photograph, has made the lake a navigational landmark. With its immense volume, it is slow to freeze and thaw.

A Crater of Cosmic Proportions

To appreciate the majesty of Northern Quebec’s Pingualuit Crater, you’ve got to see it from an airplane

Pilot Hugh Maxwell (with his crew, standing, far left).

The War’s Oddest Dogfight

Over the Atlantic in 1943, it was a battle of the bombers.

Curator Jeremy Kinney discusses the project with former Flak-Bait pilot Sherman Best.

207 Flights, Hundreds of Holes

The conservation of a record-setting B-26 bomber will preserve every battle scar.

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Parachute training

A group of students pull on a parachute while an instructor explains how it operates. January 1942, Fort Worth, Texas.

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Aurora From Above

The astronauts aboard the International Space Station got an incredible view of an aurora.

An azotosome vesicle like the one modeled here would be about the size of a small virus particle.

Life as We Don’t Know It on Titan

Cell membranes may be made of different materials on Saturn’s large moon.

Fritz Zwicky may have been crabby, but you have to admit he was clever.

In 1957, Two Tiny Pellets Were the First Man-made Objects to Escape Earth’s Gravity

Eccentric astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky scored his victory just 12 days after Sputnik.

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