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September 2012

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Features

Since 1966, thermodynamics engineer Pete Law has been showing up at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, with his toolbox and a career’s worth of knowledge about cooling systems.

How Reno Racers Keep Their Cool

At the Reno air races, pilots know that to go fast, you have to stay cool. That’s where Pete Law comes in.

When John Glenn (here looking through a training device) became the first American to orbit Earth, a yaw thruster caused attitude control problems

The Astronaut Question

How long will humans remain better than robots at exploration?

A Rubenesque Princess emerges from a hangar on the Isle of Wight in 1951.

Cancelled: Princess, Dethroned

A British aircraft company could not give up the ship.

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How Things Work: Space Station Steering

How do you maneuver a million-pound spacecraft?

Head on, the Boomerang may be hard to fathom, but it’s easy to control — even if one engine quits.

Burt Rutan's Favorite Ride

The Boomerang could be the safest twin ever built

In 1958, NACA facilities, like Ohio’s Lewis Research Center, were re-labeled NASA centers.

I Was There: "The Tremendous Potential of Rocketry"

Jimmy Doolittle remembers the birth of the U.S. space program.

Over Vietnam in 1966, a Douglas A-1 flies cover on a rescue mission.

Airman Down

Rescue aircraft are different today, but "surrender" is still a dirty word.

Built in 1928, the steel frame of the Curtiss flying school is still sound.

Glenn Curtiss Was Here

A 1920s hangar still stands at a Connecticut airport.

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Last of Their Kind

Airplanes without equal at the National Air and Space Museum

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One-and-Onlies: The Complete List

All the Smithsonian’s one-of-a-kind aircraft

Departments

In the Museum

In the Museum: Painting History

Restoring the sole surviving Heinkel He 219.

Above & Beyond

“We’ve Been Hit”

F/A-18 vs. surface-to-air missile: Guess who won.

John Scanlan
Flights & Fancy

Interoffice Launch

How do a bunch of bored aerospace engineers kill time? Shoot down rubber-band ornithopters, of course.

William H. Dye
Moments and Milestones

Moments and Milestones: The Bridge Builder

Twenty-five years ago, Mathias Rust decided to personally intervene in the cold war