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March 2014

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The newest class is also the smallest; with missions uncertain, the eight-member “8 Balls” will go to space in the Orion capsule…eventually.

Astronauts Waiting for a Ride

Now that the space shuttle's gone, what do astronauts do?

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The Outrageous Adolescence of the F-16

The Viper was small, fast, and in your face

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Prize Photos

Presenting the First Air & Space Photo Contest Winners

An Israeli armored brigade approaches the Golan Heights to relieve forces under Syrian attack on day two of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. U.S. fears that the Soviet Union would send troops to assist Egypt and Syria sparked a DEFCON level increase.

DEFCON 3

These are the steps to follow right before you hear "Incoming!"

Cosmologists study the large-scale structure and evolution of the universe -- here imagined as it evolved (reading left to right) from 900 million years after the Big Bang to today.

News from the Dawn of Time

Will a new picture of the universe’s first light overturn a theory that has reigned for 30 years?

This Jenny belongs to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York.

Letters From a JN-4 Pilot

In 1918, my grandfather’s wish was simple: “Give me a Lewis gun in the cockpit of a fast fighter plane, and I know that I’d be satisfied with life.”

In Iceland, at one end of the 10,000-mile-long Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a visitor could see new crust being born as magma oozes up from the interior.

Destination Earth

If astronomers from another world sent a probe to study ours, where would you tell it to land?

When Alan Shepard strode out to the Mercury-Redstone rocket in May 1961 (above, right), NASA was scarcely integrated. By 1965, at the time of the Selma-to-Montgomery, Alabama civil rights march (above, left), the Huntsville rocket center employed several

And We Could Not Fail

Integration came to the nation’s space agency in the mid-1960s.

Departments

Viewport

Viewport

Above & Beyond

Above and Beyond

It’s not easy for a 1950s propeller airplane with grease smudges to turn heads at an airshow.

Oldies and Oddities

Oldies & Oddities

That was the basic idea behind Project Tugbird.

In the Museum

In the Museum

A careful study of the shot taken in December 1903 at Kitty Hawk shows the moment of aviation’s birth.