Editors' Picks
Area 51: Origins
America’s once-secret air base had humble beginnings.
Need for Speed
Airplanes with a mission: Fly faster.
Beyond the Moon
It’s not a place, exactly. But it could be NASA’s next destination.
The Invention of Flight
Inventors, dreamers, daredevils, charlatans: Aviation's early years had them all.
Vietnam Memoir
Stories from the war that shaped a generation.
Page 32 of 51
The Daily Planet Blog
Product Placement Worth its Salt
Of all the high-end executive transports to choose from -- Gulfstream, Lear, Cessna Citation, Beech Super King Air, Sikorsky, Eurocopter -- Sony opted for the Piaggio Avanti for its summer blockbuster, "Salt," starring Angelina Jolie as a battering ram.The catfish-shaped turboprop makes a cameo app...
July 29, 2010
| By Pat Trenner
The Daily Planet Blog
The Flying Fortress Turns 75
A classic symbol of World War II aviation, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is celebrating its 75th anniversary of flight today. To commemorate the airplane’s long history, at least four of them will be at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this week.Of the nearly 13,000 B-17s produced between...
July 28, 2010
| By Mary McKillop
The Daily Planet Blog
The Most Well-Traveled Nobel in the Universe
On May 14, 2010, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis left for the International Space Station (ISS) on its 32nd and final flight, it carried some typical items on board: the Russian mini-research module (which provided a new docking port and storage space for the ISS), and a cargo carrier filled with s...
July 27, 2010
| By Rebecca Maksel
The Once and Future Moon Blog
The Moon, Asteroids, and Space Resources
By abandoning the Moon, the administration’s proposed space policy has left the space community with a huge question mark over the important issue of learning how to harvest and use space resources. Clearly if we don’t go to the Moon with people or machines, there is no way to use the abundant wat...
July 23, 2010
| By Paul D. Spudis
The Daily Planet Blog
What Does An Emergency Flight Nurse Fear Most?
This summer, the Boy Scouts of America celebrate their 100th anniversary, and the U.S. Postal Service has unveiled a spiffy new stamp to honor the organization.One of my favorite Scouting quotes comes from Janice Hudson's Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse. Hudson worked for many y...
July 23, 2010
| By Rebecca Maksel
The Daily Planet Blog
Asteroid Trackers
Scientists are keeping tabs on an asteroid called Apophis, an 820-foot chunk of rock moseying toward Earth at about 22 miles per second. Apophis—named after an ancient Egyptian god of evil, naturally—will pass near our planet in 2029. How near is near? Closer than our own communication satellites.B...
July 21, 2010
| By Rebecca Maksel
The Daily Planet Blog
SpaceShipTwo Gets a Pilot
Some nice scenes here of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (now known as VSS Enterprise) on a recent captive carry flight—with a pilot (Peter Siebold) onboard for the first time.
July 20, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Daily Planet Blog
Hang Time
Designers of spy planes have come up with any number of ways to increase dwell time over a target, from long-lasting UAVs to slow-moving airships to this hydrogen-powered craft called Phantom Eye, which was unveiled last week by Boeing Phantom Works.According to Boeing, Phantom Eye will be shipped ...
July 19, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Daily Planet Blog
Technology Seeding
There's a philosophical war going on in space policy circles these days, between those who believe that grand, ambitious missions drive invention (Apollo), and those who believe it's the other way around (DARPA).Honestly, I think either approach can work, given wise management. But NASA's new direc...
July 15, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Daily Planet Blog
Amelia Earhart's Irish Sojourn
On May 20, 1932 Amelia Earhart set off in her Lockheed Vega from Newfoundland intending to fly to Paris. Nearly 15 hours later, she landed in Robert Gallagher's cow pasture in Ballyarnott, in Derry, Northern Ireland, instead, thereby becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.Mrs. Gal...
July 12, 2010
| By Rebecca Maksel
The Once and Future Moon Blog
NASA’s New Mission and the Cult of Management
During a recent interview on Al Jazeera television, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden outlined NASA’s new priorities. His remarks became headlines as the previously ignored story about the redirection of the space agency toward international diplomatic outreach and global climate change research f...
July 10, 2010
| By Paul D. Spudis
The Daily Planet Blog
The Sun Also Sets
...which is why any solar-powered airplane designed to circle the globe has to be able to fly at night, too.Switzerland's Solar Impulse team checked that off their to-do list yesterday.Next up in 2012: an Atlantic crossing in a more advanced prototype to be built next year.
July 09, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Daily Planet Blog
Scenes From Star City
With more NASA astronauts Twittering and YouTubing these days, you can get all kinds of insider views of the spacefarer's life if you're willing to rummage around the Web a bit.
Scott Kelly is training for a space station tour beginning in September, and over the last year has posted video scenes ...
July 08, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Daily Planet Blog
Roswell, "The Genesis Story of U.S. UFOs"
"It was 58 years ago today that the Roswell incident occurred," said Roger Launius, a National Air and Space Museum Space History curator who could also be considered NASM's chief skeptic. (An earlier talk of his concerned people who refuse to believe the Apollo program landed men on the moon.) Hi...
July 07, 2010
| By Pat Trenner
The Once and Future Moon Blog
Searching for the Moon’s Mantle
We’ve studied and examined the Apollo samples of the lunar maria (pronounced MAR-ee-uh) for thirty years but despite the thorough search of these collections, we have never found a sample of the deep mantle from which these lavas were formed. How might such a deeply seated rock find its way to the...
July 07, 2010
| By Paul D. Spudis
The Daily Planet Blog
Leroy Chiao on Working With the Chinese
Last week the Obama White House released its National Space Policy, a document put forward by every administration since Eisenhower's. The report gives each president a chance to articulate his vision for the nation's space activities.The new plan is notable in its call for international cooperatio...
July 06, 2010
| By Mike Klesius
The Daily Planet Blog
HAM the Astrochimp
Before humans could be sent into space, scientists needed to know if they could function in weightlessness. NASA had conducted tests with mice and a monkey, but then turned to chimpanzees, animals that could be trained to perform specific tasks.Enter HAM (an acronym derived from Holloman AeroMedica...
July 02, 2010
| By Rebecca Maksel
The Daily Planet Blog
Aviation's "It" Girl
Airplanes and The Movies came of age at the same time, and Harriet Quimby—best known as the first American woman to earn a pilot's license—had a keen interest in both. In fact, by the time she fatally crashed her Blériot XI on this day in 1912, there was little the adventure-loving 37-year-old hadn...
July 01, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Daily Planet Blog
Sixty Years After Korea
The Korean War often gets lost in the commemorative gap between World War II and Vietnam, but it was the first major conflict of the Jet Age, and has plenty of lore of its own. The war began 60 years ago this month, when North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel to invade South Korea.
Here's a...
June 29, 2010
| By Tony Reichhardt
The Once and Future Moon Blog
Malice, Mischief and Misconceptions
The space community has fractured since the disastrous roll out of NASA’s “new direction.” Preceding the administration’s budget announcement, endless delays and rampant speculation about administrators, rockets, and program design and direction kept people guessing. The current trench warfare is...
June 26, 2010
| By Paul D. Spudis
Advertisement
Follow Us
 | ||||||
|
|
 |
 |
| ||
Air & Space Videos
|
Flightseeing on Mount McKinleyA very close look at the mountaintops around North America’s highest peak. |
|
A New Way to NavigateGPS systems help pilots fly through rugged Alaskan terrain. |
|
X-47B Carrier LaunchAn unpiloted combat aircraft takes off from an aircraft carrier for the first time. |
|
SpaceShipTwo Fires UpVirgin Galactic sends its edge-of-space ship past Mach 1. |
|
How to Bag an AsteroidNASA's plan to retrieve an asteroid and bring it (close to) home. |
View All Videos » |
|
Need to Know
|
Why do NASA launch times depend on lighting conditions?It's all about the solar beta angle. |
Air & Space Interview
|
Bobby BraunNASA's outgoing Chief Technologist talks about what's in the R&D pipeline |
In the Magazine
