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Air & Space Magazine

Planetary Resources will launch the Arkyd 6 satellite later this year to test its Ceres Earth-observing instrument.

An Asteroid-Scouting Company Turns its Gaze on Earth

With its 40 multispectral eyes, the Ceres spacecraft enters a crowded market.

Scientific conferences on exoplanets, like this one in Arizona in 2011, now routinely draw hundreds of attendees. Thirty years ago, you could have fit all the world’s experts in a small classroom.

Kepler’s Children: Meet The Scientists Searching for Other Earths

How NASA’s planet-hunting telescope kicked off a revolution.

The author in November 2014, checking off a big item on his bucket list: to practice air-to-air photography from the open cockpit of a warbird.

Warbird-Watching Over Arizona

Rule number one for aerial photography: Don’t lose your camera in the windstream.

Test pilot Jake Howard

How Many People Does It Take to Build a Bizjet?

Plenty. And some are doing jobs you’ve never heard of.

The pilot of the P-61 Midnight Mickey prepares for a 1944 mission over Saipan: hunting the enemy in the dark.

Beware the Black Widow

The P-61, the Beaufighter, and the first air war fought in the dark.

In New York’s Hudson Valley, the new Spirit of St. Louis looks the part, but will never reach Paris.

Lindbergh’s Airplane (or a Close Replica) Takes to the Skies

At the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, it feels like 1927 all over again.

The airline would use the Avro Lancastrian both to ferry passengers (as in this 1945 scene) and to carry engines, using a specially designed pod slung underneath the fuselage.

The Impossible Flight

London to Sydney: 12,000 miles that started an airline.

The Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard was officially taken into the Museum’s collection in April. It is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

At Long Last, The Museum Has a Coast Guard Helicopter

A Sikorsky Seaguard enters the National Air and Space Museum collection.

A Fokker D.VII sports a lozenge pattern that makes it blend into the sky when viewed from a distance.

Inventing the Invisible Airplane

When camouflage was fine art.

Patty Wagstaff, in the lotus position on her Extra’s wing. “Be kind to yourself and stay disciplined,” she says, “as that is where you will find the most freedom.”

Fitness Secrets of the Airshow Stars

Pilots share their diet tips (and guilty pleasures).

Early concept for the Boeing 727

The History of Boeing in 15 Objects

A rummage through the airplane maker’s attic.

Staff Sergeant Daniel Fink sprays pesticide to rid the cargo hold of a C-17 Globemaster III of any Zika-carrying mosquitoes that may have stowed away.

Zika Goes on the No-Fly List

At Dover Air Force Base, crews are trying to keep mosquito stowaways off their cargo airplanes.

Security lines at Denver International Airport.

The Trouble With Airport Security

An expert on passenger screening says we should be looking for evil intent, not just confiscating scissors and bottles of liquid.

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Afghanistan Overflight

An A-28 Super Tucano light attack aircraft flies over Afghanistan during a training exercise in April.

A little help, please? The 15-year-old Mars Odyssey has been a good data relay, but it’s yesterday’s technology.

Mars Needs Broadband!

A new relay satellite will boost the data flow from Mars starting in the early 2020s.

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Ring Shadows

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is beginning to change its orbital inclination so that it can fly over Saturn’s poles during the final year of its mission in 2017. In this image, Cassini is flying 16 degrees from the equator, giving it a look down at the sunlit rings and the shadows they cast on the planet.

"Diamonds Are Forever" was turned into a movie starring Sean Connery (the only acceptable Bond) in 1971.

That Time James Bond Offended the Irish

Ian Fleming’s fourth book caused consternation at Shannon Free Airport.

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Tug o’ War With Hercules

The 374th Maintenance Squadron of the U.S. Air Force pulls a C-130 Hercules to compete in the Maintenance Rodeo Competition at Yokota Air Base in Japan last April.

Artist’s conception of the exoplanet Tau Ceti e.

Climate Change May Affect The Habitability of Other Planets

It’s not just Earth that has to worry.

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Lightning Fire

A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II drops a GBU-12 laser-guided bomb at a training range in Utah last February.

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