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Air & Space Magazine

Two Barbie dolls in the likeness of Samantha Cristoforetti, an astronaut and Italian air force pilot who has flown six types of military aircraft.

And Now, ISS Crew Member Barbie

A doll honoring a European astronaut inspires young girls to aim high.

A Harbour Air DHC-3 Otter on the beach of a remote alpine lake in Canada.

The Largest Seaplane Fleet in North America is Going All-Electric

Half a million passengers, zero emissions.

Among the objects that caught the photographer's eye is this forlorn lower torso of a spacesuit that was never worn.

Space Places

A visual tour of the new global space race

A 3D map of Vesta, the second largest body in the asteroid belt, created from images taken by the Dawn spacecraft in 2011.

Meteor Detectives

Pinpointing the source of an extraterrestrial rockfall.

Aspen leaves are the inspiration for an energy harvester (above, right) more sensitive than a previous blunter design.

Drawing Power From the Martian Breeze

Engineers explore a possible new energy source for planetary rovers.

The XQ-58A Valkyrie drone has demonstrated that it’s capable of navigating autonomously.

My Wingman is an AI

And his name is Skyborg.

Blanche Stuart Scott at the controls of a Curtiss Model D, circa 1910. Scott was the first woman taught to fly by Glenn Curtiss.

Fabulist of the Air

The first American woman to fly achieved many distinctions…but not as many as she said.

The Flying Roc

Stratolaunch’s big bird takes to the sky.

The futuristic lines of the 1959 Sting Ray racer appealed to Corvette aficionado Alan Shepard, shown here with GM designer William Mitchell, who used the car on his daily commute.

My Other Ride Is a Spaceship

How the Corvette became the car of astronauts.

In 2014, backcountry hiker Jeff Lang photographs the tail of a downed Royal Canadian Air Force DC-3 Dakota on Mount Coulthard, Alberta, Canada. The airplane crashed in 1946 while en route from Comox, British Columbia to Greenwood, Nova Scotia, killing all seven on board.

Keepers of the Lost Wreck

Amateur crash site investigation is more than a hobby. It’s an ideology.

The Royal Australian Air Force launches a self-locating datum marker buoy during the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014. The jet’s disappearance remains one of the great aviation mysteries.

Thinking Outside the Black Box

New technologies may offer alternatives to today’s flight recorders.

As drones increasingly take to the skies, can regulation prevent them from compromising our security and privacy?

Drones With Bad Intent

David Dunn, a British academic, has spent the past five years researching how drones can create mayhem.

In 1949, the Civil Aeronautics Administration transferred the AC-35 to the Smithsonian. Today it is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Ideas That Defy: The Garage Flyer

Autogiro Company of America’s AC-35

The first attempted launch of the N-1 moon rocket, in February 1969.

Why the Soviets Lost the Moon Race

Even with a late start, cosmonauts might still have made the first lunar landing. But by the end of 1968, it was game over.

The forward fuselage of the historic B-26 Flak-Bait, currently undergoing restoration.

Got A Story? How About Sharing It?

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

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Crash in the Canary Islands

A new book explains how a series of misunderstandings by aviation professionals led to catastrophe.

Conservator Karen Wilcox examines the invasion stripes on the Martin B-26 Marauder Flak-Bait.

This D-Day Veteran Earned Its Stripes

Museum conservators work to preserve historic markings on the B-26 Flak-Bait

At AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, airplane fans have found a good spot by a brace of twin-tailed classic aircraft to watch the airshow.

On Patrol at the World’s Biggest Fly-In

What it’s like to put on the orange vest at Oshkosh.

On their first Apollo 16 moonwalk, John Young and Charlie Duke (pictured) made their way to a crater named Plum. Their lunar rover waits in the background. Duke remembers the rover ride as bumpy, but stable.

A Shuttle Astronaut Asks Apollo Vets: What Was it Like?

The Virginia-based company Aireon operates receivers on a newly completed constellation of Iridium satellites that relay heading, speed, and altitude information from aircraft in real time.

Iridium Satellites Launch a New Era of Global Tracking

And that may help investigators locate aircraft that go missing.

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