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Air & Space Magazine

This is only a drill, for now: Over the fictional town of Razish at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, 40 quadcopters fly in a swarm.

The U.S. Army is Looking at a New Microwave Defense Against Attacking Drones

It even has a cool name: THOR

Spacesuit builders ILC Dover and Collins Aerospace showed off their privately developed Astro exploration suit at an event on Capitol Hill last July. NASA may need help from such commercial ventures if it hopes to make a 2024 moon landing.

Designing a Moon Suit for the 21st Century

The date for the next lunar landing has been set, but the astronauts don’t have a thing to wear.

Part of the jet set: The Museum’s Concorde was the first in the fleet to open service between Paris and New York.

What Goes Into Displaying a Supersonic Passenger Jet?

What it took to get the Concorde safely inside the National Air and Space Museum.

The author with Bill Brennand and Metal Illness, his homebuilt Sonex, in Oshkosh, 2007.

My Eye-Opening Flight With an Air Racing Legend

He didn’t miss flying? How could that be?

Frank Malina standing next to a WAC Corporal missile in 1945

Was the FBI Right to Hound One of America’s Foremost Rocket Pioneers?

A new book examines the controversial life of Frank Malina, who co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Fired up: Rocket Lab launched its 25th satellite, a DARPA payload, last March.

Rocket Lab Has Launched 39 Smallsats in Two Years, In a Quest to Lower Costs

The latest mission, in August 2019, lofted four satellites for the U.S. Air Force and private companies.

Between 1968 and 1976, 459 A-7D Corsair aircraft were delivered to the U.S. Air Force.

This Veterans Group Moved a Vietnam-Era Corsair Cross-Country to a Park in Maine

Road trip for an A-7D.

Girl Scouts can earn badges in space sciences by learning about astronomy and recreating scientific experiments.

Girl Scouts, Now You Can Earn a Badge in Space Science

A new way to encourage young women to learn about stars and exoplanets.

NASA opened U.S. spaceflight to women in 1978. Five of the six women the agency selected that year—(from left) Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, and Rhea Seddon—were all Girl Scouts.

An Early Start in STEM Can Spark a Lifelong Passion

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

Naked mole-rats rule!

Could Naked Mole-Rats Take Over After an Asteroid Impact?

Don’t assume humans will be at the top of the heap forever.

Heinz-Hermann Koelle, holding a copy of Wernher von Braun's book The Mars Project, which Koelle helped to get published in Germany.

Hermann Koelle, the Most Important German Rocket Scientist You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

A key advisor to Wernher von Braun, he helped shape NASA’s space strategy during the agency’s golden age.

Chris Galloway's 1931 Waco QCF

Airplane of the Year Honors Go to Chris Galloway’s 1931 Waco

This restored beauty walked away with the People’s Choice trophy.

Based on the speed and trajectory of a newly detected object, astronomers believe it came to our solar system from beyond. This illustration shows the first known interstellar object to fly though our solar system, 'Oumuamua.

Astronomers Spot a Comet That Likely Came From a Different Solar System

After ‘Oumuamua, the newly detected rock is just the second known object to visit from interstellar space

The cathedral in Orleans next to the conference site. If we were able to build this monumental structure hundreds of years ago, why not spaceships today?

European Astrobiologists Look Ahead to ExoMars Mission and Ponder AI’s Role in the Search for Life

SETI and many more topics were on the agenda for astrobiologists meeting in Orleans, France.

Last March, Don Long (left) shook hands with Pat Patteson at the Travis Air Force Base airshow in California. The World War II veterans both had experiences in PBY Catalinas in the Pacific and flew PV-1 Venturas but didn’t cross paths until at the show they visited another airplane they both flew, Taigh Ramey’s PV-2 Harpoon. Ken Terpstra, a volunteer at the Stockton Field Aviation Museum was delighted to see the encounter.

These World War II Pilots Will Ride to Reno in the Same Type of Navy Bomber They Flew 75 Years Ago

Their stories may be even better than the vintage PV-2 Harpoon they’ll be flying.

Chris Gabriel Lara takes in the James S. McDonnell Prologue Room, an exhibit space at Boeing’s St. Louis campus.

Lessons From the Aerospace Life: Networking is Important, Too

Chris Gabriel Lara, Structural Analyst, The Boeing Company

In July, the Museum’s DC-3, sans wings and engines, made the journey from the National Mall to northern Virginia.

The National Air and Space Museum’s DC-3 Goes Into Storage, But Only for a While

One of the world’s most successful airliners makes a short trip to a temporary home.

From 1955 to 1961, the TWA-sponsored “Rocket to the Moon” was the E-ticket attraction of Tomorrowland, the neighborhood of the Disneyland theme park modeled after a speculative utopian future.

Long Before Apollo, I Went on a Lunar Flight at Tomorrowland

Sure, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins did it better. But I did it first.

In an artist’s concept of the new How Things Fly gallery, visitors stroll and use interactive displays on a mezzanine.

At the National Air and Space Museum, a New Gallery Is Being Designed To Be Hands On

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

For decades, Sea Furys owned by the Sanders family—(front to back) Dreadnought, Argonaut, and 924—have been strong competitors at Reno’s National Championship Air Races.

One of the World’s Most Famous Air Racers Retakes the Trophy

Dreadnought, a race-crowd favorite, is backed by a family tradition.

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