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Air & Space Magazine

Dan Taylor dresses to suit a Curtiss Model D built by the late Cole Palen, curator of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.

Ten Antique Airplanes and the Pilots Who Dare to Fly Them

The dangers and demands of piloting vintage aircraft.

Hobbyists filled the University of Illinois Armory to compete with RC aircraft.

The World’s Largest Indoor Air Show

Now featuring drones, too.

Chris Carter is the mastermind of the award-winning “X-Files.”

For Chris Carter, the Truth is Still Out There

The X-Files creator wants to believe.

During his 1948 Senate campaign, Lyndon Johnson (hat raised) won voters with novelty—a new way to travel—and convention (posing for photos).

Lyndon Johnson’s Campaign by Helicopter

In 1948, “All the Way with LBJ” meant scooting around Texas in a Bell 47D.

The Case of the Runaway U-2

And the time I almost had to shoot down one of our own.

The pointy designs won: Artist’s conception of a Minuteman III reentry vehicle.

Technically Speaking: Stealth Before Stealth

Practicing the art of invisibility in the 1970s.

Scene from a desert planet: a panoramic view of the Payson outcrop near the Opportunity rover’s landing site. With its ocean long gone, Mars may yet have liquid reservoirs underground, and spacecraft have seen signs of surface flows. Life, if it ever existed, most likely followed the water.

Would We Know Alien Life If We Saw It?

And have we already seen it on Mars?

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Pits on Mars

This image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera shows a crater on Mars approximately 130 meters wide, thought to have been created by collapsing lava tubes.

The T-38 is as cool-looking as it is valuable for crew training.

Ask the Astronaut: Can only pilots apply to be astronauts?

Tom Jones making a breakfast burrito in space. Meals are easier on the ground, and there’s more variety.

Ask the Astronaut: What do astronauts eat right before launch?

America West, like its famous call sign, has ridden into the sunset.

Cactus, Speedbird, and Other Great Call Signs

America West had one of the best, but lost it in the politics of mergers.

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Operation Desert Storm at 25

U.S. Air Force F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil wells in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, which ended 25 years ago this year.

Astronaut Ron Garan took this shot of a meteor from the space station during the annual Perseid shower in 2011.

A New Space Station Camera Will Watch Meteors From Above

Looking down on showers like the Perseids can be better than looking up.

Artist's conception of the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars.

ExoMars and the Question of Martian Methane

Europe’s new Mars mission will take aim at one of planetary science’s most intriguing mysteries.

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Towing a Comet

A Bell YP-59A-1 Airacomet gets a tug down the tarmac.

"The Cabin," the universal means of transportation within the flying city. (A drawing from Georgii Krutikov's 1928 work, "The City of the Future: The Evolution of Architectural Principles in Town Planning and Residential Organization.")

The Soviet City in the Sky

In 1928, a Russian architect proposed taking urban living to new heights.

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Diamonds in the Sky

Trumpler 14 in the Carina Nebula glitters with new stars in this image by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronauts training (and having a little fun) on the KC-135.

Ask the Astronaut: How does NASA simulate weightlessness?

Bluish-gray molybdenite, a molybdenium-sulfur mineral, in quartz from Wisconsin.

Rare Minerals May Be a Sign of Life

Geology and biology co-evolved on Earth, and maybe on other planets, too.

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Go Vertical

An F-16 Fighting Falcon from the Royal Netherlands Air Force makes a steep climb during training over Tuscon, Arizona.

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