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Air & Space Magazine

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Moment In Martian Time

The most far-out shot of the lot.

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Breaking the Sound Barrier: Yer Doin’ It Wrong

Attention, turbojet-heads: Turner Classic Movies airs “The Sound Barrier” at 8 p.m. EST Friday, May 7. The 1952 film, directed by David Lean, plays fast and loose with aerodynamics and aviation history, but it offers fine footage of a de Havilland Comet and a Supermarine Swift interceptor, a number…

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Behold Excalibur

Among the more intriguing commercial space vehicles on the drawing board is Excalibur Almaz, whose backers propose to use leftover vehicles built for a Soviet military space station program that died aborning in the 1970s. The principals in the company include Art Dula, an old hand in the field of …

Orion Integrated Vehicle PA-1 HD Stills from Frassanito and Associates

Exit Strategy

NASA’s new launch abort system just passed a major test. But what booster and capsule will use it?

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Couches In Space

If the seats fits, it’s because it’s custom-made.

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The Aerodynamic Properties of the Humvee

What springs to mind when thinking of the Humvee? Its sleek, aerodynamic lines? Well, no. But that didn’t stop DARPA from announcing (in a 58-page proposal) its plans for combining an SUV-type ground vehicle with Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) capabilities. In other words, a flying Humvee.DAR…

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Rainbow To Orbit

No, it’s not the St. Louis Arch.

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Robonaut Gets His Mission

So we thought the last of NASA’s rookie astronauts had flown, leaving only veterans on the final few space shuttle flights.Not so fast.One last rookie will be on board space shuttle Discovery when it blasts off in September for the STS-133 mission.After years languishing as a laboratory-only projec…

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The Four Flavors of Lunar Water

The Moon is constantly bombarded by the solid debris of the Solar System.

X-15 drop from the B-52

An Extra Two Seconds

This is how test pilot Bob White set a records in the X-15

The author went on to fly anti-submarine P2V Neptunes.

Flights & Fancy: It Started off Bad and Went Downhill

Flights & Fancy: It Started off Bad and Went Downhill

Kevin Lacey, here with a repossessed Citation VII, gets the job done by striking an effective balance between folksy and wily.

Grab the Airplane and Go

How to repossess an airliner without getting shot, or thrown in jail, or beat up, or slammed into a wall, or…

Katherine Peterson teaches visitors about airport codes.

In the Museum: A la Cart

In the Museum: A la Cart

An engineer adjusts the beam-control optics that ride in the nose of the Airborne Laser Testbed, a modified Boeing 747-400F. The optics stabilize and shape the weapon laser’s beam as it is aimed by the nose turret’s computer-controlled telescope at a target missile.

How Things Work: Missile Killer

In this tables-turned scenario, the airplane shoots down the missile.

The turbojet engine grew so reliable that passengers can now fly direct routes across the globe.

Moments-Milestones Old Faithful

Moments-Milestones Old Faithful

Two-armed Dextre robot, which will be used to demonstrate orbital refueling.

Mr. Fix-It

Frank Cepollina takes repair calls to new heights.

The Osprey’s role in Afghanistan has been mainly assault support: transporting troops and supplies (here, Army soldiers unload gear from an MV-22 at a remote combat outpost).

Osprey at War

Can the MV-22 pass muster in Afghanistan?

The color-coded mosaic is oriented as if the viewer were hovering directly above the lunar South Pole,which lies at the bottom center. In some areas of the surface, the 70-centimeter wavelength penetrates up to 100 feet.

What Lies Beneath

You don’t have to go to the moon to find out what it’s made of.

Dick Navratil, who owns two Pietenpols.

The Pride of Cherry Grove

With little more than Bernard Pietenpol’s plans, anybody could build an airplane.

Bob Hoover, center, enjoying a day at the Oshkosh airshow with two other legends, Chuck Yeager, left, and Clarence "Bud" Anderson.

Simply the Best

Is there an airshow fan alive who doesn’t know the legendary Bob Hoover?

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