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Air & Space Magazine

As spaceport passengers file into the main terminal for their flight, hidden doors hiss open to welcome them.

Spaceport West

Virgin Galactic’s future launch site rises up from the New Mexico desert.

Suicide by Airplane: It’s Rare, But It Happens

A 2014 study identifies 24 suspected U.S. cases of “aircraft-assisted” suicide over the past 20 years.

Earth prototype of the Resource Prospector rover (carrying the RESOLVE payload) and lander during recent field tests at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Prospecting the Moon’s Poles

An early look at NASA plans to start assaying lunar resources.

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A Stellar Stellar Nursery

The Orion Nebula has been imaged countless times, but this is by far one of the best results we’ve come across. Ryan Hannahoe and Salvatore Grasso created it with a 16-inch telescope from the Perez Observatory in Mayhill, New Mexico.

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Milestone Earth Viewing

This view of the Sao Simao Reservoir in Brazil was the 300,000th image downlinked from the International Space Station.

Comet 67P etc., as seen from a distance of 3,400 miles on July 20. Note the brighter pixels around the middle.

Rosetta’s Comet Has a Shiny Necklace

New pictures show a bright “neck” where the comet’s two pieces join.

Helicopters were called in to help rescue climbers who fell into this crevasse on Mount Hood in 2002.

Calamity on Mt. Hood

When shifting winds downed a helicopter.

Bede jets fly again! A-10 Air National Guard pilot Justin Lewis (opposite, top) zooms at last year’s EAA AirVenture.

The Thrill of Flying the World’s Smallest Jet

Jim Bede and the 1975 BD-5 Jet Team

Robert Baslee’s Dr.1 looks authentic, but gets a big boost from a four-cylinder engine.

Where to Buy a WWI Aeroplane

Just like the ones they used to fly in 1917—almost.

Politics delayed the mission, but the spacecraft, with a new focus and the new name DSCOVR, will launch in 2015.

Al Gore’s Satellite

It’s almost ready for launch—even if no one wants to take credit for its resurrection.

The F-100 was the first fighter to exceed Mach 1 in level flight.

When Slower Was Faster

The brains—and the physics—behind the 1955 Bendix win.

Richard Wiese revisits mementos of his flying career. In 1959 he set a major distance record, but not many noticed.

The Accidental Record Setter

How a moonlighting ferry pilot landed in the history books, and other trans-Pacific tales.

A student holds his Kiowa atop a precarious perch about 500 feet above the ground.

Mountain Training for Helicopter Pilots

An Army school in Colorado shows military pilots how to master the heights.

Meet Orion, a son-of-Apollo space capsule that, like the family wagon, will be comfortable on long trips and will still be around when the kids learn to drive.

America’s Next Spaceship

Designed to go where no man has gone before.

In retirement: the Concorde at the National Air and Space Museum Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Why We Don’t Have an SST

In the politics of supersonic transport, “boom” led to bust.

A VMF 222 Corsair catches some rays on Green Island while a ground crewman catches up on his reading.

Corsair vs. Kamikaze in 1945

Above and Beyond

Secrets of the Skunk Works

Exclusive photographs of once-classified inventions from Lockheed’s famous brain trust.

New ultra-high-definition projectors in the Einstein Planetarium give visitors an experience that rivals that of the IMAX theaters.

The Museum’s New, Revamped Planetarium

Bright stars and new shows at the Einstein.

Andy Weir’s science fiction thriller, The Martian, is filled with "enough keen wit to satisfy hard science fiction fans and general readers alike," according to Publishers Weekly.

Andy Weir, Author of The Martian

A conversation with a space nerd-turned-novelist.

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Approaching in Darkness

Pilots in the U.S. Air Force 96th Airlift Squadron use night-vision goggles to guide their runway approach.

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