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Air & Space Magazine

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Magnificent Isolation

Rather, the end of it. The crew of Apollo 11 didn’t realize how magnificent it was until they were thrust into a frenzied world after 19 days of quiet quarantine. From the moment they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969, they’d been penned up like three men in an episode of The Twil…

Swimming Lessons

Astronauts had to swim before they could walk.

090622-N-7780S-014 GULF OF ALASKA (June 22, 2009) An Air Force F-22 Raptor executes a supersonic flyby over the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). John C. Stennis is participating in Northern Edge 2009, a joint exercise focusing on detecting and tracking units at sea, in the air and on land. (U.S. Navy photo by Sonar Technician (Surface) 1st Class Ronald Dejarnett/Released)

F-22 Rapture

Contrails and shock waves and water vapor and…

An Air Force Reserve Command C-130 Hercules equipped with a modular airborne fire fighting system gives an exhibition by dropping about 3,000 gallons of water at an airshow in Oshkosh, Wis. The Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture attracts hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts from all over the world. The aircraft is assigned to the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Jeff Schoen)

Hercs On Call

Nope, it’s not a booster rocket.

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NASA’s Office of the Future

NASA used to have a research institute—a tiny one—that funded scientists and engineers to develop far-out ideas, stuff that was still 40 years in the future, or well beyond the horizon of the current space station or even the proposed moonbase. The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts was among the…

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Deadline Approaching

On Tuesday, August 5, the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, also known as the Augustine panel after its chairman, Norman Augustine, held its next-to-last public meeting. The series began in Washington, D.C., on June 16 and moved on to Houston, Huntsville, and Cocoa Beach.The meetin…

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Sole Survivor

The little autogyro that could.

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Dog Is My Co-pilot

Debi Boies had finally found the perfect Doberman. Unfortunately, the rescue dog was in Florida, and Boies couldn’t figure out an easy way to get him to her home in South Carolina. Based on her experience with a Doberman rescue group, she knew the animal would have to be transported by car, chang…

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Inverted—In a Helicopter

Doesn’t get any crazier than this.

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Next Step or No Step

The Moon versus Mars controversy has reared its ugly head yet again.

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Costly photos of Air Force One

Back in April, the White House thought it would be a good idea to take new photos of the President’s airplane, Air Force One (actually a backup), flying over New York city. The photo-op backfired, though, when some New Yorkers were spooked by the sight of what looked like a passenger jet being e…

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The Electric Airplane

Quiet, smooth, dependable—shouldn’t we be flying these by now?

Alan Bean, former lunar module pilot of Apollo 12 and commander of a 59-day Skylab mission, at home in Houston, Texas, in his light-filled studio.

The Art of a Moonwalker

Alan Bean’s moonscapes show what photographs can’t.

In a test called "Ivy Mike," the world's first hydrogen bomb explodes on Enewetak Atoll, November 1, 1952.

Into the Mushroom Cloud

Most pilots would head away from a thermonuclear explosion.

All five NASA astronauts on the classified STS-28 mission had military backgrounds. But only two of the defense department’s corps of 27 shuttle payload specialists made it to orbit.

The Secret Space Shuttles

The Pentagon also used NASA’s space truck, but was a lot less willing to discuss what went on up there.

Young man on a mission: A baby-faced George H.W. Bush (above), shown in 1943-44, flew the Grumman TBM Avenger in the Pacific. Half a lifetime later, he would land in the Oval Office.

From Pilot to President

Do aviators make better leaders?

In 2003, Steve Lange (left) chaired a sign-waving group that met each Friday at a different intersection in the city.

The Airport That Wouldn’t Die

An embattled Florida field had more than history on its side.

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In the Museum: Flight at the Museum

In the Museum: Flight at the Museum

A deformed machine gun from the Nakajima Ki-27 spoke volumes to the author (center).

Above & Beyond: Recovery: Bataan

Above & Beyond: Recovery: Bataan

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Flights & Fancy: Brooders vs. Extroverts

Flights & Fancy: Brooders vs. Extroverts

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