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Air & Space Magazine

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How to Talk to Aliens

Start by figuring out the patterns in their language, says SETI researcher John Elliott.

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Good Things Delivered in Small Packages

NASA recently asked industry for concepts of small robotic landers for missions to the Moon. What could such machines accomplish?

Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada.

Oh, That Area 51

The outing of Nevada’ secret air base may be news, but it’s not new

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Ospreys on the South Lawn

The tiltrotor begins White House duty

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Shiny New Airplane

Boeing sends one of its military models out onto the factory floor.

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Japan’s Kirobo Robot Brings Cute to the Space Station

The 13-inch astro-bot begins a year-and-a-half tour in orbit

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Fake it ‘Til You Make It

Students in the Mars Yard.

A Nagasaki temple after the second atomic bomb was dropped.

The Second Atomic Bomb

The crew of Bockscar dropped the Fat Man bomb over Nagasaki just three days after the first nuclear weapon hit Hiroshima.

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See You Later, Herschel

A retired spacecraft is sent on a new orbit around the sun.

Looking through a telescope just became old-fashioned.

Hey, What’s That Satellite Overhead?

These handy websites and smartphone apps eliminate the guesswork

Self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, ca. 1510.

A rare da Vinci codex on birdflight goes on display at the National Air and Space Museum

Leonardo da Vinci, Birdwatcher

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By the Numbers

Scientists always color inside the lines.

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C-17 Loom-master

Performing a routine engine check.

Flying Sharks!

If you thought you were safe in the air, think again.

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Early Airplanes on Lake Michigan

A Langley airplane prepares for a flight.

Cold and tired: Jim Lovell rubs the sleep from his eyes during his Apollo 13 mission.

How hot was Apollo 13 on reentry?

For the answer, we turned to James Lovell.

The Unfeathered Bird

500 years after Leonardo, the mechanics of bird flight still enthralls.

50 Years of Air Racing

Over half a century, a devoted few created the unique culture of Reno

Called “Bats” after the disks he used to signal pilots, a landing officer says “Lower!” to an approaching airman. The air-to-surface vessel radar dome is visible between the airplane’s gear struts.

Britain’s Desperate Response to U-Boats

Short decks and Swordfish

The “Gutless Cutless” earned its nickname primarily from its underpowered engines. A Vought F7U-3 in May 1953.

In the early jet age, pilots had good reason to fear the F7U

The Gutless Cutlass.

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