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Air & Space Magazine

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Best Children’s Books of 2017

The best aviation- and space-themed books for young readers in 2017.

An abundance of life: Plant-covered land is red in this combined visible light/infrared view of Earth from the Messenger spacecraft.

Cosmic Zoo vs. Rare Earth

A new book argues that complex life is common in the universe.

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Art Nalls, Badass Pilot

What else would you call the man who flies the only privately owned Sea Harrier in the world?

In 2014 the AeroShell aerobatic team earned a place in the Air Show Hall of Fame, based on their flying in Wasp-powered North American AT-6 trainers.

Inside the Wasp Shop

These pilots and engineers caught the bug.

Warmer air could place a heavier demand on airsickness bags.

Air Turbulence Will Likely Get Worse as the Planet Warms

Buckle up, it’s getting hot out there.

After arriving at the Museum in 2000, Jack Dailey stood with Museum patron John Glenn by a model of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

A Farewell Salute to Jack Dailey

The National Air and Space Museum’s longest-serving director steps down.

An artist’s rendition of a trans-Neptunian Object imagines the sun in the far, far distance.

Planetoid Detectives

Students and amateur astronomers help the pros track some of the most distant objects in the solar system

Able to loiter above 60,000 feet, the General Dynamics RB-57F Canberra was ideal for high-altitude scientific observation and capable of carrying a 700-pound payload 3,000 miles.

The Ultimate Cone of Confusion

I was taught that a pilot could always trust his compass. But that lesson didn’t account for flights over the magnetic north pole.

The PBY4 Privateer and other aircraft used for “ferret” flights carried crews on espionage missions; many didn’t return.

Secret Casualties of the Cold War

Gary Powers wasn’t the only one. More than 200 airmen were shot down while spying on the Soviet Union.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 overcame its initial bad reputation and carried passengers until 2014.

A Tale of Two DC-10s

How one pilot overcame a flaw in the airplane—and one did not.

A Mosquito in flight; of the more than 7,000 built, only three known airworthy examples survive.

The Secret Mosquito Stash

When Airbus tried to demolish a building, it uncovered treasure.

The Short Life and Death of a Space Tourism Company

They had brains, vision, drive. Where did XCOR go wrong?

The all-new Reinventing Flight exhibition will explore how the airplane was developed—and encourage visitors to design their own.

The Museum Gets a Facelift

Over the next seven years, all 23 galleries will be updated and renovated.

Wasp no. 1 never flew, but the Navy bought 200 after ground tests.

The Wasp Engine’s Great Leap Forward

The only aircraft engine to be designated an historic landmark.

Willy Ley with a Viking sounding rocket on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, 1956.

Willy Ley, Prophet of the Space Age

How a German immigrant’s excitement about space exploration inspired a generation.

Gustave Maurice Heckscher, a real estate developer and pilot, flew a Curtiss Model F seaplane across a lake in 1913. The U.S. Navy used the two-seat Model F, with a top speed of 65 mph, to train pilots serving in World War I.

The Mystery of the Airplane in the Fishing Shed

Solved—almost 100 years later.

The Northrop T-38 was a great trainer when it entered service in the 1960s, but not for today’s frontline fighters.

Meet the Jets Competing to Become the Next Air Force Trainer

What will replace the nearly-60-year-old T-38?

Moujan Zolfaghari (right) portrays an animate spaceship. Alden Ford and Seth Lind (center) act in and edit Zyxx episodes.

Join Seth Lind and Friends on a Mission to Zyxx

The podcast that goes where no others have gone before.

The Chelyabinsk meteor went undetected until it exploded over Russia in 2013. The 60-foot-wide rock burst with a shock wave that injured 1,500 people and damaged 7,000 buildings across six cities.

Defenders of the Planet

A new NASA office pledges to save humans from the fate of the dinosaurs.

Some day the planet outside the window will be red. Might as well start practicing now.

Why Not Use the Space Station as a Mars Mission Simulator?

The ISS4Mars project would help astronauts get ready to venture farther from home.

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