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Air & Space Magazine

A Bronco returns to Udorn Air Base, Thailand. Both canopy doors are open to cool the cockpit.

Legends of Vietnam: Bronco’s Tale

One of the most versatile aircraft of the Vietnam War appears on the verge of a comeback

An F-16 with the Arizona National Guard.

Would a Fighter Pilot Shoot Down a Private Airplane?

Interceptions over restricted airspace—mostly of innocent civilians—are more common than you’d think

A Bombardier Challenger 850 executive jet gets a cabinet of fine wood veneer, made by Lufthansa Technik craftsmen. Finishes add tons to an airplane’s empty weight.

The Gold-Plated Cabin

There aren’t many companies that can make an airliner fit for a king.

During wartime flight instruction at Harlem, students learned on a WACO UPF-7 trainer; the field also had Piper Cubs.

The Other Harlem

In 1930s Chicago, at the corner of 87th Street and Harlem Avenue, Cornelius Coffey made aviation history.

Kelly Johnson was in his 20s when he challenged the early design of Lockheed’s Electra

Head Skunk

Kelly Johnson was a giant in aircraft design. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, we find out how his legend grew

In Malaysia, Marines found out how their F/A-18D Hornets (left) performed against Russian-built MiG-29s (right).

Hornet v. MiG

U.S. Marine aviators to Malaysian MiG pilots: Show us what you got.

Kitty Hawk kitchen in 1902

In the Museum: A Wright Relic Surfaces

In the Museum: A Wright Relic Surfaces

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory pose with a backup Mars Exploration Rover. From left: Nimisha Mittal, Pauline Hwang, Sharon Laubach, and Alfonso Herrera.

Creation of a Cover Shot

Photographer Eric Curry shows how he made our March 2010 cover.

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A Flight Engineer for Air Force One

A crew member on Air Force One for almost 20 years, Joe Chappell has seen it all.

The SP-100 space nuclear reactor.

Talismanic Thinking

Wild claims are being tossed about regarding the future U.S. space program

Just imagine ejecting from one of these flying at approximately 800 mph.

The First Supersonic Bail-Out

How does it feel to eject from an aircraft going nearly 800 miles per hour?

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Let It Snow

The white stuff comes to the Olympics, if a little late.

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Race and the Space Race

PRX Radio ran an interesting piece over the weekend, narrated by former astronaut Mae Jemison, about race and the early space program. NASA and the civil rights movement came of age in the same decade, and by chance, the agency’s main centers were in places like Texas, Alabama, and Florida—the hear…

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New Lightning

Last week, a third Lockheed Martin F-35B—the coolest variant of the F-35, with its ability to take off vertically then go supersonic—joined two others already undergoing flight tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. (It’s shown here leaving the Lockheed facility in Fort Worth, Texas…

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Plumes Aplenty

A Saturn moon belches with abandon.

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A Lunar Visionary

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More Detail From NASA

Those who say NASA is giving up on human space exploration may want to take a look at the details the agency just released about where its budgeted money is going over the next several years. The table on page EXP-3 of this document shows more than $15 billion over the next five years allocated for…

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Falcon 9 on the Launch Pad

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket—which the company hopes will usher in a new era of lower-cost commercial space travel—has arrived at its launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.Engineers are checking out the vehicle’s fuel, liquid oxygen, and gas pressure systems. Once they pass muster, the launch team will…

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Cupola-fied

The  International Space Station gets a window on the world.

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The Capt. Marlon Green

When Marlon Green wanted a flying job with Continental Airlines more than 50 years ago, the company wouldn’t give him the time of day. Now they’ve named an airplane after him.Green, who died last year at the age of 80, had to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court to get hired as the first Afric…

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