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July 2013

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Features

Space shuttle Atlantis

Where Have All the Shuttle Engineers Gone?

To new jobs, some odder than others

pair of F9F-5 Panthers

Panthers at Sea

U.S. Navy Panthers weren’t highly evolved, but they could shoot. And they were air conditioned.

An artist places us on the surface of Gliese 876 d

Earth-Like Planets Could be Right Next Door

Astronomers estimate that billions of habitable planets are orbiting red dwarf stars. What would it be like to live there?

View of Alska by airplane

Alaska and the Airplane

For a century, each has shaped the other.

Pilots-Mount-Mckinley-hero-2-631.jpg

The Pilots of Mount McKinley

For 50 years, the world has reached the mountain on airplanes from one small town.

Piper PA-14
Helio Courier

Alaska’s Crash Epidemic

How technology and an FAA regional office ended it.

The Evans Family

Departments

Viewport

Viewport

Progress in Power and Safety

Above & Beyond

Contact!

What happens when helicopters get a little too close.

Oldies and Oddities

When Republic Aviation Folded

A historian rescued a lone document from the company’s files.

In the Museum

What’s Real, and What’s Not?

At the National Air and Space Museum, some artifacts are more genuine than others.