History of Flight, Aviation, Space Exploration

Blogs

If it flies, hovers, launches, or orbits, you can read about it here.

Astronaut Don Pettit blogs from space—and other exotic locales.

Lunar scientist Paul Spudis on the current U.S. space program.

Inside the cockpit with airline pilot Steve Satre.

Editors' Picks

About Those Space Joyrides…

The first suborbital tourists will spend up to $200,000 for a few precious minutes of weightlessness. How many minutes will they get?

The Other Air Forces

Humorist Bruce McCall's small fleet of little-known aircraft.

Design by Rutan

A retrospective of Burt Rutan's high-performance art.

Space 2012: What’s Ahead

Twelve things to watch for in space next year—if the world doesn’t end.

The Kids Are Trying to Crash

Remote-control models face off in the Extreme Flight Championships.

Photo Essay

The World From Your Airplane Window

A science writer's guide for the inquisitive air traveler.

Need to Know

Why Do Helicopter Pilots Sit in the Right Seat?

Air & Space Interview

The Witness

Want to set a record-breaking flight? You’ll need an observer from the National Aeronautic Association.

Air Candy

Featured Video

The Daily Planet Blog

416 MPH

Not all speed records look fast on video, but this one does.
By Tony Reichhardt

Space Exploration

The World's Highest Laboratory

The space station's finished. Now what?
By Guy Gugliotta

Photos

Combat on Canvas

Art and artifacts from the Marine front lines, now on display in Washington.
By Rebecca Maksel

The Daily Planet Blog

Hardest to Fly?

Piloting an Apache helicopter almost always meant both hands and feet doing four different things at once.
By Rebecca Maksel

Space Exploration

Fred vs. Skylab

A welcome-home party for what was left of a space station.
By Scott N. Gaines

Portrait of warbird restoration expert Tommy Garcia with a rare B-17 fuel tank at Clover Regional Airport in Pearland, Texas on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. © 2011 Robert Seale

Military Aviation

At the B-17 Co-op

Like bomber crews on 100-plane raids, today’s B-17 owners find strength—and survival—in numbers.
By Brendan McNally

The Daily Planet Blog

Moonset in Space

Here's something you can only see in Earth orbit.
By Tony Reichhardt

German soldiers got a good look at the Handley-Page bomber mistakenly landed at a German airfield.

Military Aviation

The Last Bombing Run

They survived the mission; would they survive the landing?
By Tom Murphy

Military Aviation

D.A.S.H. Goes to War

The first rotary-wing UAV entered military service in 1962—and remained in operation until 1997.
By Rebecca Maksel

Military Aviation

One Fast Yak

How Will Whiteside and his team transformed a light trainer into a racer.
By George C. Larson, Member, NAA

Letters To Earth Blog

A Lab for Science, and for Thinking

Shifts in thought and perspective, some seemingly minor, happen when you observe the commonplace in a new and unfamiliar setting.
By Don Pettit

Space Exploration

Extraterrestrial Outfitter

If you're planning an off-world vacation, there's only one name to call: Eric Anderson
By Michael Belfiore

Military Aviation

Cancelled: The Navy's SeaMaster

The Navy wanted a nuclear bomber of its own; the Glenn Martin Company thought, Why not a flying boat?
By Mark Wolverton

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