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Air & Space Magazine

If successful, the Lynx will be the first craft to take off from a runway and fly to space.

Can a suborbital spaceship help XCOR reach orbit?

The Lynx’s Leap.

The SR-71 was a joy to fly, says Buz Carpenter. “You knew that the pictures you were taking and the electronic information you were collecting were vital to the president.”

Some of the airplanes in the National Air and Space Museum stir personal memories.

Buz Carpenter tells us all about it.

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The day I almost collided with a submarine

Down Periscope!

Avoiding the mountains looming over Paro focuses the mind wonderfully.

“The Client Wants to Land Where?”

Could we fly a bizjet into a remote strip in the Himalayas?

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In 1962 Cuba, MiG Pilots Posed as Tractor Operators

In the tense days before the U.S.-Soviet missile crisis, secrecy was everything.

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Terrifying Delays

Alright, it’s not really that terrifying. The European Space Agency’s Swarm mission will send up three satellites to study the Earth’s magnetic field. The agency announced yesterday its launch, originally scheduled for November 14, will be delayed about a week so they can replace a part in the upper stage of the Rockot the satellites are hitching a ride on. In the meantime, we can enjoy the talents of expert pumpkin carver and geomagnetist Victoria Anne Ridley, who commemorated the Swarm mission for Halloween.

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Astronomers Find an Earth-Size Lava World

Kepler 78-b is our closest twin yet—except for the hellish temperatures

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Unplanned (But Controlled) Experiments: The Role of Serendipity

Two spacecraft arrive at the Moon at the same time, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Orville, Katharine, and Wilbur Wright return from England in 1909.

Katharine Wright’s Knickers Too Risqué To Be Exhibited

Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit and the Barefoot Bandit’s pilot handbook also are among the items that museums can’t—or won’t—show you

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Show Some Flare

The sun emitted three solar flares over two days last week.

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Packing up a Satellite

Workers get an Air Force satellite ready for launch

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Is Silicon-Based Life Possible?

As we look for biosignatures on other planets, we should guard against being too Earth-centric

Artist’s conception of the scenery from World View’s “space capsule.”

Visit the Stratosphere — For Only $75,000

Is it really “space?” Who cares? It’s a bargain.

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Vitruvian Astronauts

A canon of proportions on board the space station.

ESA's Planck mission recently took a look at the Shapley Supercluster in microwave light. The massive grouping has more than 8000 galaxies and a total mass of more than ten million billion times the mass of our sun. Image: ESA & Planck Collaboration / Rosat/ Digitised Sky Survey

The 10 Million Billion Supercluster

This huge group of galaxies is the most massive structure within a billion light-years from us.

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Life on a Rogue Planet

Planets with no host stars wouldn’t be very hospitable, but life might still find a way to hang in

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Comet ISON Will Likely Stick Together for Trip Around Sun

New Hubble pictures show that rumors of a breakup are premature

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Air and Space Magazine iPad® App

The new Air & Space Magazine iPad® app is available now! You’ll get the entire print magazine plus bonus features—FREE for print subscribers.

This amazingly detailed image from ESA's Mars Express orbiter shows the Hebes Chasma mesa: The details of the central mesa inside Hebes Chasma are seen in close-up detail in this perspective view. A horseshoe-shaped chunk has been taken out of one side of the mound (left in this image); the material has slumped down onto the floor of the valley below. A dark patch appears to pool like spilt ink across the debris. It is most likely loose material that has slid down the walls from an intermediate layer. Melted ice could have played a role by weakening the rocks to create its flow-like appearance. Along the side of the mound fine horizontal layering is seen. The layers likely comprise a mix of wind-blown dust and ancient lake sediments, along with remnants of the older plateau. Image: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

The Detail of a Mesa on Mars

Mars Express studies a chasm.

This rare poster from 1909 is expected to fetch between $15,000 and $20,000

Rare Wright Brothers Posters Survive Because They’re “So Damn Pretty”

Remarkable Wright brothers posters come up for auction

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