Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Air & Space Magazine

None

The First Photographer in Space

Gherman Titov was the youngest person ever launched into space, the first to get space-sick, and the first to take along a camera.

The CST-100 capsule and service module approach the ISS in this artist’s concept—for a stay that could last up to six months.

One Small Step for Boeing

The next pilots to fly a U.S. spacecraft may work for a private company.

None

Water (Really!) on Mars

Pictures taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show strong evidence of liquid water

None

LEt’s GO to Jupiter

A trio of toy figurines take a trip to the outer solar system.

None

Exotic volcanoes on the Moon

The flood of new data from the Moon continues to enlighten and puzzle lunar scientists

None

D.B. Cooper (Still) Missing

A credible tip fizzles and the mystery continues

None

Spirit of Tuskegee Tweets Into Town

A Stearman PT-13 that trained Tuskegee Airmen.

None

As the Asteroid Turns

The unveiling of the first full closeup of the asteroid Vesta today.

None

Sunset, Moonset

Inspiration from above.

None

High-Speed Rail Won’t Fly Here

Ron Davies, former museum curator of air transport rallies for high-speed rail.

An cutaway of the supersonic wind tunnel.

Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Michael Silvestro (foreground) runs Flight Options, the second largest fractional jet ownership company in the U.S.

The Competition

The Competition

Visitors assemble space station elements in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery.

In the Museum: My Vostok Is Bigger Than Your Mercury

Launching two very different capsules—and a space race.

Paul Mantz, circa 1928, fresh out of the Army Air Corps and headed for Hollywood.

Above & Beyond: Mantz Versus the Volcano

Filming for Cinerama with a fearless flyer

Where do you park a zeppelin (here, the Navy airship Los Angeles)? On a seven-story-high mooring mast.

Last One Out, Shut off the Helium

Fifty years ago, the Navy ended its lighter-than-air program.

None

Flights & Fancy: How I Bagged an F-4J

Who would think a kite could down a fighter?

Just past the standing figure, a chamber with movable sidewalls controls the Mach number of air entering the diffuser.

The Perfect Wind Storm

In the 1950s, engineers at Cleveland’s brand-new supersonic wind tunnel battled shock waves, unstarts, and the local power company.

Giuseppe Genchi, who found a trove of engine parts at the University of Palermo, spent countless hours restoring an 11-cylinder rotary engine from World War I.

Genchi’s Obsession

A grad student in Italy salvages Germany’s rarest World War I airplane engines.

It takes a village to reach Mach 1.01. The flight and ground crews for the DC-8 supersonic run included flight test engineer Richard H. Edwards, third from left, and pilot Bill Magruder, in white shirt behind sign.

I Was There: When the DC-8 Went Supersonic

The day a Douglas DC-8 busted Mach 1

In a joking nod to George Abbey’s power over manned spaceflight, astronauts (like STS-5’s Bob Overmyer) sometimes carried his photo into orbit.

Mr. Inside

George Abbey had more influence on human spaceflight than almost anyone in history, but few outside the field know his name.

Page 188 of 320