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Air & Space Magazine

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Scalpers Charge Big for Shuttle Launch Tickets

Space shuttle Atlantis won’t be the only thing rising on Friday morning

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Worm Wear

Look your slinky best in a pressure suit inspired by a garden pest.

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Send in the Drones

“This is the direction all aviation is going”

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Pulled Plane

Moving a KC-135, the hard way.

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Crowning Flight

A delta-wing pilot takes liberty.

Did you want to send that regular or express? Delivering mail by Regulus cruise missile.

When Missiles Delivered the Mail

58 years ago this month, a Regulus II missile took postal delivery to new heights.

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310 Million Served

The National Air and Space Museum celebrates its 35th birthday.

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr.

Meet NASA’s 12th Administrator

Charles Bolden talks about commercial space, flying fast and the shuttle’s legacy

The X2 takes off like a helicopter, but has almost the speed of its high powered fixed-wing brethren.

From Zero to 250

Sikorsky’s X2 is more hot rod than helicopter.

Kernersville, North Carolina observers and Air Force reps inspect a post in 1958.

Oldies and Oddities: When Civvies Scrambled Fighters

Neighbors, families, and friends watched the skies for enemy bombers.

Before hose-and-reel refueling took hold, the Navy tried a system of rigid tubing. This did not end well.

Above & Beyond: Warner and the Whale

How we turned the A3D into a tanker

Last November, the Curtiss SB2C-5 moved into its new digs at the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, where it awaits restoration.

In the Museum: Wanted: TLC for Misunderstood Warbird

Challenging the Helldiver’s bad reputation.

A formation of Westland Wapitis flies over the mountainous landscape of the North-West Frontier Province. In 1933, a Wapiti became the first airplane to fly over Mt. Everest.

The Bombing of Waziristan

In this rugged hiding place, outlaws like Osama bin Laden are rarely run to ground. The British learned that lesson in 1939.

An airplane flying between oppositely charged regions can trigger lightning within a cloud, from cloud to cloud, or from cloud to ground.

How Things Work: Lightning Protection

Air travelers, fear not.

The World War II transports were considered stealthy — in audio signature only.

That Old Crate

From Minnesota cratemakers, a new CG-4 glider like the ones they built in World War II.

Vesta looms in this artist’s view. Dawn’s ion drive is weak, but chemical engines aren’t efficient enough to reach two asteroids.

Destination: Asteroid

After four years of spiraling out from Earth, the Dawn spacecraft closes in on its first target.

Two things you will find every July in Oshkosh, Wisconsin: The DC-3 Duggy and planeloads of international tourists.

The United Nations of Oshkosh

Flying. The other universal language.

Ryan employees send the Spirit off to St. Louis. Lindbergh, in jodhpurs, is third from right; Donald Hall, second.

A Mailplane for Lindbergh

Donald Hall’s 1927 rush job.

Northrop Grumman’s portrait of the future for naval aviation: the X-47B on the runway in Palmdale, California.

*Pilot Not Included

Military aviation prepares for the inevitable

Team Black Sheep raised eyebrows with its overflight of New York City in 2010.

Pilot Cam

A remote-controlled airplane, a camera, and a pair of goggles can put you in the (virtual) pilot’s seat for as little as $500

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