Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Air & Space Magazine

The "Big Ear" telescope at Ohio State. What exactly did it hear back in 1977?

Forty Years Later, SETI’s Famous Wow! Signal May Have an Explanation

But the controversy continues.

The star of Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas, with some of the supporting cast.

Aircraft Carrier Opens at IMAX Theaters

A new big-screen film proves that life aboard a carrier is one wild ride.

None

Estuary Studies

The PROBA-V Earth observing satellite took this false color image of the delta of the Rhine and Scheldt rivers along the coast of Belgium and the Netherlands.

None

In and Out

A T-45C Goshawk performs a touch and go on the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Russia's MC-21 on its first flight

Russia’s New Airliner Takes to the Skies

The MC-21 is great, but probably isn’t coming to an airport near you.

A ground-based incerceptor launches from Vandenberg AFB in California on May 30.

Anti-Missile Test Scores a Hit, With Caveats

It’s no impenetrable shield, but it’s progress.

None

Ammo Re-up

A MH-60S from the U.S. Navy’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron brings ammunition and other goods to the cargo ship USNS Amelia Earhart.

Evidence for flowing water on Mars, as seen by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. How much was contributed by rainfall?

Martian Rain

And what it tells us about the atmospheric pressure on early Mars.

None

Glittering Galaxy

The ALMA observatory in Chile is being used to study this very distant galaxy called A2744_YD4, filled with dust from exploded stars. This image is an artist impression of what that galaxy might look like.

None

On Board At Sea

Marines and Sailors on board the USS Iwo Jima prepare for amphibious exercises.

Human captain, non-sentient copilot

“Siri, Land the Plane”

This robot controls airplanes the same way people do, so it can fly almost anything people can.

None

Hornet on Deck

An F/A-18C Hornet lands on the flight deck of the USS Nimitz.

A group from the United States’ first national weather service, headed by astronomer Cleveland Abbe, trekked up to the Army Signal Station on Pikes Peak in Colorado (seen here on a snowier day) and endured challenging conditions to view the 1878 eclipse.

A Brand New U.S. Weather Service Joined the Race in 1878 to Observe a Solar Eclipse

The event gave the American scientific community a chance to prove themselves. A new book tells the story.

Mimas Moonshot

Little moon Mimas, which is about as wide as Ohio, is seen with Saturn’s rings in this image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

The Mercury 7, in not-quite-full silver regalia

The Mercury 7 Caper

When a deadline looms, you better be able to improvise.

A swoop competitor performs a flip as part of his “Freestyle Trick,” judged on a point scale for difficulty and execution.

Giant Drone Racing, Swooping Get More Legit

See the swoopers compete for their first FAI title in August.

Two thumbs up: Jeff Skiles, a former EAA vice president and first officer on Flight 1549—the “Miracle on the Hudson”—treats a Young Eagle to a first flight.

A Young Eagles Flight Is Just the First Step

EAA has a flight plan for you, and it could save you $10,000.

The Normandy beaches

Mac and Me

How I became friends with a U.S. Army Air Forces pilot who died during World War II.

Cicaré’s SVH-4 makes pilot training far more accessible.

The Helicopter Savant

Augusto Cicaré’s rotorcraft finally take off.

At Pennsylvania’s NASTAR Center, trainees climb the stairs to ride the only centrifuge in the country that simulates suborbital spaceflight and is available for private use.

Got a Ticket to Space? You’ll Have to Train First

‘We will now determine your G-force threshold…’

Page 49 of 320