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Air & Space Magazine

Artist's conception of early Earth. Life survived here, but what about other places?

Life May Need to Take Charge of a Planet to Survive

A sobering solution to Fermi’s Paradox

This experimental scramjet vehicle can be yours...with enough cash.

You, Too, Can Own A Hypersonic Flying Laboratory

For a mere $60,000 or so. Plus shipping and handling.

Encore!

Watch how this four-year-old reacts to her first aerobatic flight.

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Champagne Flow

Hydrogen gets heated by the baby stars in this nebula, RCW 34, and when it reaches the edges of the gas cloud, “it bursts outwards into the vacuum like the contents of an uncorked champagne bottle,” so astronomers call it champagne flow, according to the European Southern Observatory, which published this image from the Very Large Telescope in Chile.

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Here’s What Moving Traffic Looks Like From 250 Miles Up

Urthecast releases its first high-res video from the space station.

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Pararescue Training

The 920th Rescue Wing with the U.S. Air Force practice search-and-rescue response in a Katrina-like flood situation.

Cartoon showing the interaction of the solid Moon with the particles, fields and dust that make up the lunar exosphere.

A Dust Cloud Around the Moon

Who ever said that space is empty?

The surface of Ceres as seen from Dawn, flying at 2,700 miles above the surface. Taken June 6, 2015.

3,200 Miles Over Ceres

A JPL composite video simulates a flyover of a dwarf planet.

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Steadying a Tilting Dragon Lady

“I’ve got it!”
“No, I’ve got it.”
“Whoa, I’ve got it.”

UC-123B aircraft on a defoliant run, part of Operation Ranch Hand during the Vietnam war.

Stateside Reservists Exposed to Agent Orange Will Get Benefits After All

The Veterans Administration follows up on a finding by the Institute of Medicine.

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Galaxy Twist

This image from Hubble shows one of NGC 7714 galactic arms being stretched out of shape from the pull of another galaxy that has drifted close.

The first inflight movie was shown during Chicago's Pageant of Progress in August 1921.

Bringing Inflight Movies to Airlines Was Harder Than It Sounds

Starting in 1961, passengers battled boredom with Hollywood films.

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Pyramids from Above

Rick Perry runs for President; the C-130 is in the background

Guess Which Presidential Candidate Used to Fly C-130s

The right backdrop for kicking off a long, hard campaign

The Biro ballpoint pen aided pilots and navigators during World War II.

If You Like Ballpoint Pens, Thank the R.A.F.

A story for National Ballpoint Pen Day

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Daredevil on the Ropes

This photo comes from the album belonging to barnstomer and daredevil Carter Burton, part of the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive.

Mars Cube One (MarCO) is a pair of cereal box-size spacecraft scheduled to be launched next year along with NASA’s next Mars lander.

CubeSats to the Rescue?

Small spacecraft will have an impact on astrobiology, although their use may be limited.

Ok for Virginia, but not Florida: The U.S. Army Airship "Signal Corps No. 1" in 1908 trials at Fort Myer. Should an airship violate any of Kissimmee, Florida's regulations, the pilot would be fined up to $500 and imprisoned "in the town calaboose for not more than ninety days."

The First U.S. Air Law Was In a Town Without Airplanes

In 1908, a nervous Florida town prepared for an aerial onslaught.

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Chandra Captures Cygnus

This beautiful image of radio galaxy Cygnus A shows a combination of radio light observed by NSF’s Very Large Array in red and x-ray emitting gas observed by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in blue.

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Cub Testing

A Piper J-3L50 Cub, used to train many pilots during World War II, goes through testing by NACA at Langley in 1939-1940.

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