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Air & Space Magazine

Captain Kirk, meet the Horta. Horta, meet Captain Kirk.

Silicon-Based Life, That Staple of Science Fiction, May Not Be Likely After All

Silicon could still be important for the beginning and end of organic life, however.

Lucean Headen appeared on the front page of The New York Age in 1912, sitting at the controls of a Curtiss-type biplane. In 1917, the Chicago Defender summed up the laconic barnstormer by saying, “No one knows where he came from, where he is going or what he knows as he says nothing.”

Meet Lucean Headen: Barnstormer, Inventor, and Pioneering African-American Pilot

A new biography gives a mostly forgotten aviator his due.

Right size, right distance, right kind of star. The search for an Earth 2.0 is heating up.

We’re Very Close to Finding a Solar System like Our Own

A newly discovered exoplanet is in a 378-day orbit around a G dwarf star like our own Sun.

Co-creator and star Steve Carell and a cast of comedic ringers can't cover up the clunky writing and uneven tone of "Space Force."

Steve Carell’s Netflix Comedy Series Space Force Should’ve Waited For More Favorable Launch Conditions

Carell and The Office creator Greg Daniels reunite for a satire that hasn’t yet reached orbit.

With so many worlds out there, the question is: How many are home to advanced life?

Statistics Say Intelligent Life in the Universe May Be Rare

But simpler life is probably common.

The crew of DM-2: Bob Behnken (l) and Doug Hurley.

SpaceX Prepares to Launch Astronauts for the First Time

Standing by his Cessna 172S, Barry Eccleston signals success on August 22, 2019, the day he earned his instrument flight rating.

A CEO Rediscovers the Joy of Flying

The recently retired head of Airbus Americas is learning to be a pilot—again.

The Grumman Hellcat, here sporting U.S. Navy colors, was a mainstay of carrier-based aviation during World War II.

The Last Dogfight of World War II

A new book chronicles the final air battle over the Pacific

In 2017, Emily Martin studied “pit chains” in Iceland. The landform may be similar to something found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Smithsonian Scientists Bring the Planets to the Public

A pair of researchers at the National Air and Space Museum want everyone to be able to tour the solar system.

Besides flying the T-37 and F-16, Penney has raced jets at Reno, copiloted a restored B-17, and now owns a Stearman and a 1950 Cessna 170A.

Heather Penney Wasn’t Always a Hero. She Had to Learn How to Fail First.

The Cessna T-37 trainer is a fun airplane to fly, so why couldn’t I master this one simple procedure?

U.S. Army veteran Zeb Harrington stands with his nearly complete Japanese Oscar. The prop spinner was once a stainless-steel mixing bowl. What will he build next? “I always thought a Spitfire was a beautiful plane,” he says.

This Rare Replica Warbird Is Made From Pizza Pans and Lawnmower Parts

A Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa could be the first homebuilt to be built of actual pieces of a home.

The U.S. Navy donated this KDH-1 variant drone to the National Air and Space Museum in 1966. It is on view today at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia.

In the 1940s, Drones Were Just Something for Navy Gunners to Shoot At

Say hello to the Katydid, one of the first UAVs.

Reporters closely followed Richard Bong’s progress in the race of aces. Bong (center) was killed testing a P-80 jet on the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima—the one time the wartime press had a bigger story than the exploits of America’s top fighter ace.

For World War II Pilots, the Race to Be an Ace Sometimes Turned Deadly

When the line between duty and ambition began to blur.

Holly Ridings in her element, the Blue Flight Control Room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The first woman to be Chief Flight Director, she may preside over the mission that sends the first woman to the moon.

Meet The Woman Who Will Direct the Next Moon Landing

As Holly Ridings takes the helm of Houston’s famed Mission Control center, another glass ceiling breaks.

1) Pan American Airways baggage label, c. 1937; 2) French airplane brochure, c. 1910; 3) Coloring book, 1930; 4) Airline brochure, 1941; 5) Pan Am foreign currency converter, 1957; 6) Program from the 1910 Belmont Park air meet; 7) Entrance badge, Wright Military Flyer trials, 1909; 8) 1945 comic; 9) West Coast Air Transport timetable, c. 1928; 10) Menu from a 1927 dinner in Charles Lindbergh’s honor; 11) Coloring book, early 1960s; 12) Aircraft recognition dial, 1942;

The History of Aviation in Posters, Brochures, Badges and Ticket Stubs

Instead of ending up in the trash, aviation ephemera from the last 100 years turn out to be treasure.

The Lockheed Constellation that transported President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie flew over a Texas lake in spring 2016, on its way from Arizona to Bridgewater, Virginia, where it is undergoing an exhaustive restoration.

The First Air Force One

When Dwight Eisenhower was president, he traveled in style. Now a team is restoring his airplane to presidential perfection.

Mars (photographed here by the European Mars Express orbiter) has a thin atmosphere--useful for landers parachuting down to the surface, and the subject of interest for orbiters like the UAE's Hope spacecraft.

This Month, Three Countries Are Heading Off to Mars

A mini-armada of landers and orbiters is about to descend on the Red Planet.

Quadcopters are a new tool for drug smugglers. These “narcodrones” are easily purchased and can carry up to several pounds. If the drone is intercepted, the launch location may be revealed, but not the pilot’s identity.

How Many Drones Are Smuggling Drugs Across the U.S. Southern Border?

Answer: Nobody knows.

A new immersive Museum gallery is being designed to give visitors the impression of walking on moons and other planets.

Journeys to Other Worlds

From the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum

All three pieces of the K-Wedge can be installed in under one minute to protect aircraft rails. The inventor, Technical Sergeant Brett Kiser, says that the Air Force plans to modernize a locking handle mechanism on the loading aid to eliminate the need for cargo straps for installation, which will make the process faster and easier for airmen.

This Simple Wedge Could Save the Air Force a Couple of Million Dollars a Year

Small damage can lead to huge delivery delays.

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