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Air & Space / Video

Preview thumbnail for X-47B First Flight

X-47B First Flight

The X-47B, an unmanned combat vehicle built as a demonstration aircraft for the U.S. Navy, had its inaugural flight at California’s Edwards Air Force Base on February 4, 2011. The …

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“A Feat on the Stellar Path”

The docking of Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 in January 1969 was the first time two manned spacecraft were linked together in orbit. It was a much-needed first for the …

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Pumpkin Practice

In 1945, dummy bombs called “Pumpkins” were released during top-secret tests over the southwestern United States as practice for dropping the first atomic bombs. This rare color footage (the narration …

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Move-In Day at NASM

In early 1975, National Air and Space Museum staff began to fill the new museum with aircraft and spacecraft. The Douglas World Cruiser Chicago was the first aircraft to enter …

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SOFIA Opens Its Door

In this video taken from NASAs F/A-18 chase plane, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), fully opens its telescopes door on a flight near Edwards, California on December 18, …

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The XP-67 Moonbat

One of James McDonnell’s early concepts, the XP-67 Moonbat was a blended-wing-body design whose performance, thanks to anemic engines, was stamped FAIL. But get a load of the demo flight …

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Whole-Airplane Parachute

In 1998, during eight tests including this one with an SR20 out of Ocotillo Wells Airport in California, engineers and pilots from Cirrus Aircraft and Ballistic Recovery Systems took the …

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Clare Musgrove

Clare Musgrove was assigned to the United States 15th Air Force based in Bari, Italy, as a ball turret gunner for B-24 Liberators. In June 1944, his B-24 was on …

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Lindy’s Mom

LINDY OFF TO SOUTH AMERICA; TAKES HIS MOTHER TO CAPITOLSTORY LINE: Charles Lindbergh is about to open a new airmail route to the Southern Hemisphere. His mother, Mrs. Evangeline Lindbergh, …

Preview thumbnail for March 1931: Hanging Eye Test

March 1931: Hanging Eye Test

1931: ARMY AIR SERVICE THRILLED AT SUCCESS OF HANGING EYE TESTSTORY LINE: Army Air Service successfully demonstrates the practicality of an observation car dropped on a cable from a blimp …

Preview thumbnail for January 1930: Curtiss-Tanager Wins Safety Award

January 1930: Curtiss-Tanager Wins Safety Award

AMERICAN PLANE WINS $100,000 SAFETY PRIZE.STORY LINE: A Guggenheim Award goes to the Curtiss-Tanager plane as best of 15 entrants in an international airplane safety contest in 1930. SCRIPT: in …

Preview thumbnail for January 1931: Girl Flyers Smash Endurance Record

January 1931: Girl Flyers Smash Endurance Record

GIRL FLIERS SMASH ENDURANCE RECORD DESPITE MISHAPSSTORY LINE: Bobby Trout and Edna Mae Cooper beat mark for women and seek to stay in the air longer than the Hunter Brothers. …

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Mid-Air Bridge Party

USE SPEEDING PLANE FOR BRIDGE PARTY IN FIRST MID-AIR GAMESTORY LINE: Society folk play cards half a mile above the streets of the city. The players are so absorbed in …

Preview thumbnail for Boeing's New Spaceship

Boeing’s New Spaceship

Boeings new spacecraft, the Crew Space Transportation-100, flies a typical mission in this silent animated sequence: Launch in Florida, rendezvous and docking at the International Space Station, and return to …

Preview thumbnail for Jeb Corliss in Flight

Jeb Corliss in Flight

I learned about it last winter and decided I was going to jump it the second I found out it existed, says Jeb Corliss, speaking of The Crack. Its a …

Preview thumbnail for The Adventures of Smilin Jack (1943)

The Adventures of Smilin Jack (1943)

In comic strip form, Smilin Jacks appearance was modeled on that of barnstormer and air racing star Roscoe Turner, three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy. The movie serial went bland …

Preview thumbnail for Danger Flight (1939)

Danger Flight (1939)

“Tailspin Tommy” first appeared as a comic strip shortly after Charles Lindberghs epic 1927 flight across the Atlantic. Tommy was such a popular character that he soon branched out into …

Preview thumbnail for Ace Drummond (1936)

Ace Drummond (1936)

The title of this Universal release comes from the comic strip of the same name, which was loosely based on the exploits of World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, …

Preview thumbnail for Ospreys Over Afghanistan

Ospreys Over Afghanistan

Photographer and writer Ed Darack hops in an MV-22 Osprey along with U.S. Marines in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The action starts in a rocky, remote combat outpost (COP) …

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Laser Avenger Test

September 2009 test against IEDs. (Source: Boeing)

Preview thumbnail for V2 Camera Views of Earth,1946

V2 Camera Views of Earth,1946

Universal newsreel story from November 1946 about V-2 rocket camera photos. Video: Universal Studios

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Race TV

This recap of the 2009 National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, created by LiveAirShowTV, highlights the action at the 2009 event and introduces newcomers to the pilots and airplanes …

Preview thumbnail for X-40 Drop Test

X-40 Drop Test

The X-40A test vehicle is shown making one of seven autonomous free flights at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center in 2001. Hoisted to 15,000 feet by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, …

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Air Mail Service ca. 1923

The U.S. Post Office Department produced this silent documentary tracing the transcontinental route flown by its airmail carriers as of 1923. This edited version of the original 32-minute film follows …

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Aviation Training in the United States, 1917-18

Rare footage of Army pilots learning to fly Jennies during World War I. (Video: National Archives and Records Administration)

Preview thumbnail for Jetting Through the Grand Canyon

Jetting Through the Grand Canyon

They wouldn’t be allowed to do it today, but back in 1959, experienced military pilots would sometimes buzz the Grand Canyon when flying out of nearby Nellis AFB. At the …

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Cloaking Device

In this 2006 video clip, Duke University researchers David R. Smith, David Schurig, and Steve Cummer discuss their work in “cloaking” an object by bending microwaves around it. Their device …

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Chasing Dust Devils

Mars researchers from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson visited Eldorado Valley outside Las Vegas in the summer of 2009 to learn more about dust devils, which also occur on …

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Souped-Up Seahawk

On October 16, 2008, at the New Castle County Airport near Wilmington, Delaware, Piasecki put its X-49A experimental Speedhawk helicopter through a final series of hoops that satisfied Phase 1 …

Preview thumbnail for Curtiss Reims Racer Simulation

Curtiss Reims Racer Simulation

Engineers at the University of Liverpool’s Flight Simulation Laboratory take their virtual Curtiss Reims racer for a test run. The simulation was created in 2009 to mark the 100th anniversary …

Preview thumbnail for Bleriot XI Simulation

Bleriot XI Simulation

Engineers at the University of Liverpool’s Flight Simulation Laboratory take their virtual Blriot XI racer for a test run. The simulation was created in 2009 to mark the 100th anniversary …

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