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Air & Space Magazine

Marine Captain John Hudson (right) greets Navy Commander William Ecker, head of VFP-62, known as the “Fightin’ Photo,” at Florida’s Homestead Air Force Base before a press conference in December 1962. Behind them is an RF-8A Crusader, with a stenciled Fidel Castro and dead chickens to denote completed missions over Cuba.

Due South of Key West

Flying fast and low over Castro’s Cuba.

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Rise and Shine

You’ve gotta get up early to be ready for the Reno air races.

The Hawker Sea Furys owned and raced by Brian and Dennis Sanders are celebrities at the 2012 races.

Back in the Race at Reno

Not all the new safety measures are welcome, but the teams are upbeat, and happy to be racing again

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The Hemingways Go Flying

The macho man of American Letters was a nervous flier. His wife was another story

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Pi in the Sky

San Francisco area residents got mathematical message on Wednesday. 

All suited up in Moon Zero Two (1969).

Hollywood’s Spacesuits

A sci-fi historian’s guide to movie spacesuits, from wacky to realistic

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Many Firsts in Flight

Two decades ago, the first African-American woman — and a handful of other firsts — launched aboard space shuttle Endeavour.

Kounotori, packed full of supplies, arrived at the space station in July.

Kounotori’s End

A Japanese camera will try to catch first-time pictures of a satellite’s breakup

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Inspecting the Underside

Curiosity takes a few self-portraits.

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Free Enterprise and “New Space”

Is “New Space” free enterprise?

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New York’s Blimp Parade

Forty percent of the U.S. blimp population floats over New York City.

George Orwell wrote for the BBC from August 18, 1941 to November 24, 1943. His broadcasts were heard in India, Malaya, and Indonesia.

Alarming Reports from George Orwell

In the weeks leading up to the Blitz, Londoners were still learning how to respond to air-raid warnings

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Floating Blue Moon

A weather satellite looks up. 

The wingtop pods on a Typhoon contain sensors and radar decoys used for electronic defense.

Why are the Eurofighter’s wingtips different?

Why are the Eurofighter’s wingtips different?

Since 1966, thermodynamics engineer Pete Law has been showing up at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, with his toolbox and a career’s worth of knowledge about cooling systems.

How Reno Racers Keep Their Cool

At the Reno air races, pilots know that to go fast, you have to stay cool. That’s where Pete Law comes in.

When John Glenn (here looking through a training device) became the first American to orbit Earth, a yaw thruster caused attitude control problems, so he flew the last leg manually. Half a century later, spaceflight still requires both automation and human skill.

The Astronaut Question

How long will humans remain better than robots at exploration?

A Rubenesque Princess emerges from a hangar on the Isle of Wight in 1951.

Cancelled: Princess, Dethroned

A British aircraft company could not give up the ship.

Head on, the Boomerang may be hard to fathom, but it’s easy to control — even if one engine quits.

Burt Rutan’s Favorite Ride

The Boomerang could be the safest twin ever built

In 1958, NACA facilities, like Ohio’s Lewis Research Center, were re-labeled NASA centers.

I Was There: “The Tremendous Potential of Rocketry”

Jimmy Doolittle remembers the birth of the U.S. space program.

Over Vietnam in 1966, a Douglas A-1 flies cover on a rescue mission.

Airman Down

Rescue aircraft are different today, but “surrender” is still a dirty word.

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