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Air & Space Magazine

A trilobite, one of the first hard-shelled fossils found after the Cambrian explosion.

How Animals Came to Roam the Earth

The rise of complex life came after a rise in oxygen levels, according to new research.

AeroMobil’s latest creation

Yet Another Flying Car

Here we go again.

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Victory in the Alps

Pilot Nigel Lamb, flying for Breitling, won the world championship title at the 2014 Red Bull Air Race in the Austrian Alps on October 26.

An Orbital Sciences Antares rocket, still on the launch pad after last night’s scrub.

What Was the Deal With That Boat Scuttling Last Night’s Rocket Launch?

The Coast Guard and Marine Police try to warn boats out of the danger zone, but sometimes they get through.

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Arctic Otter Flight

A DHC-3 Otter flies over glaciers for NASA’s Operation IceBridge-Alaska surveys, which study how rising temperatures affect the Arctic.

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Google VP Sets New Record for a Stratospheric Leap

Alan Eustace makes history with his 26-mile fall.

A major asteroid impact in the past made Mimas look like the “Death Star” in Star Wars.

Mimas: Is There an Ocean Inside the Death Star?

Another (possibly) watery moon in the outer solar system

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Rescue Drills

A U.S. Air Force airman plays a victim being lifted into an HH-60G Pave Hawk during an evacuation exercise.

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Watch Video of a NASA Rocket Sled Pulling a Giant Parachute

Even better than the official “Enter Sandman” video.

American pilot Oliver Ralston received flight training in Canada before heading to England in 1918, where he learned to fly bombers.

First Responders

American World War I pilots joined up early by serving with Britain’s Royal Air Force.

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Autumn is Coming

This image from NASA’s Terra satellite captured autumn’s turning leaves in the Great Lakes area.

Artist’s conception of the 4M payload near the moon.

First Privately Funded Moon Mission Launches on a Chinese Rocket

A Luxembourg company sends a payload where no amateur radio satellite has ever gone.

A V-2 streaks by a B-17 at high altitude. Not surprising that we found no similar photo of a B-24.

Did a B-24 Really Shoot Down a V-2 Rocket in 1944?

On the trail of a tall tale.

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Getting the Mail Airborne

In 1920, Reno was the transfer point for airmail being flown between San Francisco and New York City. In this photo from the National Postal Museum, airmail employees transfer mailbags from one de Havilland to another.

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International Spacecraft Fleet Poised To Watch Comet Skim Past Mars

During Sunday’s close approach, the view will be best from the Red Planet.

Ina, an unusual depression about 3 km across near the center of the near side of the Moon. The smooth areas appear to lie on top of the rough surface; analysis of this feature suggests an age of about 30 million years, astonishingly young in lunar terms.

Lunar Volcanism: How Recent is Recent?

New work suggests that lavas were erupted on the Moon less than 100 million years ago.

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Slower Traffic Than It’s Used To

An F-15 gets towed down Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins, Georgia. The city is leasing the Eagle from the state’s Air National Guard for its new veteran’s memorial.

Keeping it clean: Engineers wear "bunny suits" when working on Mars-bound rovers, to avoid possible contamination.

New Spacecraft Cleaning Method Gets Rid of Pesky “Hitchhikers”

A cheaper, easier, approach to planetary protection.

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Rosetta Selfie

As the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft zeros in on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, it gets a better and better view of the rough surface its lander, Philae, will descend upon on November 12. The spacecraft took this “selfie” on October 7 using a camera on Philae, showing Rosetta’s solar panels and the comet just 16 km away.

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Thunderbird Over Alaska

A U.S. Air Force Thunderbird performs at the Arctic Thunder Open House at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska in July 2014.

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