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Air & Space Magazine

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Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

Cast, crew and curators take us behind the scenes during the filming of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Jack Schmitt in the Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon, Apollo 17, December 1972.

Apollo on the Moon

Readings, photos, and videos about the golden age of lunar exploration.

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Apollo on the Auction Block

Who’s the rightful owner of the stuff that came back from the moon? The astronauts? NASA? Private collectors?

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The Moonwalkers’ Doctor

When the first lunar landing expedition returned to Earth, Bill Carpentier got first crack at them.

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The Spitzer telescope’s second life

It’s a big week for space telescopes

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Stonehenge West

Judith Young at the National Air and Space Museum

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Where You Headed?

Hubble or ISS? A lesson in orbital mechanics…

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NASA needs direction? Call Norm Augustine!

Norman Augustine, that perennial blue-ribbon panelist, just accepted the easiest gig of his career—or the hardest

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Star Garden

Inside a star forming machine.

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Cracking down on “laser losers”

The advent of cheap, powerful hand-held lasers has become a real problem for aviation

Twentieth Century Fox “had really faithful re-creations of aircraft and spacecraft,” she says. But don’t look for the movie version of Amelia Earhart’s airplane (shown here) to enter the collection.

The Smithsonian’s Hollywood Moment

The makers of Night at the Museum took great pains to get it right.

Amy Johnson’s Excellent Adventure

Reading the stories of early aviators always makes me shake my head with admiration. Consider, for example, Amy Johnson

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Return to the Moon: Outpost or sorties?

NASA's STS-119 space shuttle crew from left; Joseph Acaba, Tony Antonelli, Lee Archambault, John Phillips, Richard Arnold, Steve Swanson, present President Barack Obama, fourth from left, with a montage in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 1, 2009, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Mission Accomplished

Visits to lofty places.

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Whither the NASA Administrator?

While we wait for the Obama administration to name the next NASA chief, we might do well to recall that we’ve been here before

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Playing a tune on the Moon

This is clever and cool

Operation Vittles was a military miracle: The Allies delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies to Berlin.

Moments and Milestones: The Hungry City

Moments and Milestones: The Hungry City

At the R.E.P. factory in Buc, France, around 1911, workers test the strength of a monoplane wing by inverting it and filling it with sand.

Then & Now: Under Stress

Then & Now: Under Stress

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Flights & Fancy: Homage

Flights & Fancy: Homage

In addition to guarding the National Air and Space Museum’s treasured trophies, Alex Spencer is responsible for the British military aircraft holdings, and the 13,000 artifacts that make up the flight matériel collection.

In the Museum: The Bodyguard

In the Museum: The Bodyguard

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