Air & Space Magazine

In January 2020, National Transportation Safety Board staff work at the scene of the helicopter crash that killed former NBA star Kobe Bryant.

Lessons From a Fatal Crash

The official verdict on the helicopter accident that took the lives of Kobe Bryant and seven other people.

Flagstaff, Arizona maintains a lighting code that limits lights from polluting this majestic nighttime view. But the glare from orbiting objects threatens to undermine such regulations.

Orbital Debris Creates a New Problem: Light Pollution

Collisions aren’t the only worry.

In January 2001, the Landing Signal Officer and other crew on the platform are only a few of the thousands supporting the mission to get this F-14 Tomcat safely aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Team Spirit on a Supercarrier

Pilots flying from a modern aircraft carrier are not alone. They’re part of a floating city.

Visitors to the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery will start at the icy bodies beyond our solar system, and travel inward to the warm, life-giving sun.

A New Museum Gallery Takes You on a Tour of the Solar System

The ultimate in travel experiences, coming soon to the National Air and Space Museum.

Ghostships of the Air

A photographer takes us on a spooky tour of abandoned aircraft.

Standing among the used books in Peterborough’s Toadstool Bookshop, Bill Johnson contemplates his creations, constructed over his lifetime.

This New Hampshire Bookstore Has Its Own Air Force

You never know what you’ll find on—make that above—the shelves.

Toward the end of their first day outside, Dave Scott captured this dramatic shot of Jim Irwin and the rover, with Mt. Hadley’s summit in the background, 12 miles away.

First Car on the Moon

Before Apollo 15, astronauts could explore only as far as they could walk.

A Corsair goes down off the USS Sicily in 1949. What happened next?

Did this Pilot Survive?

An old photo raises a nagging question.

Some cars were made with airplane engines; others seem to be made for them. Jay Leno proves that with his EcoJet, which runs on a Honeywell LTS101 helicopter engine.

Jay Leno's Airplane Engine Collection

He keeps them under the hood.

As many as 35 Corsairs still fly today, and 11 of them made it to the 2019 Thunder Over Michigan warbird show. Getting them all in one shot took the considerable talents of photographer Scott Slocum and photo ship pilot Bernie Vasquez. The Corsair legend is that it was too mean for the Navy so they gave it to the Marines. Here's the real story.

How the Navy Tamed the “Killer Corsair”

A little piece of aluminum solved the WW2 fighter’s vicious behavior problem.

Can humanity play billiards across seven million miles of space? NASA is dispatching the DART spacecraft to smack a moonlet (foreground), shoving it into a new orbit around its asteroid.

A (Small) Pre-Emptive Strike Against the Doomsday Asteroid

With the DART mission, scientists try to prepare for Earth’s worst catastrophe.

No, it's not Mars. It's a field of salt nodules in the Atacama Desert.

Martian Life May Be Hiding in Islands of Habitability

Zeroing in on the best environmental niches to explore during the next mission to Mars.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly their joint "Super Delta" formation over Naval Air Base El Centro, California in March.

The Thunderbirds Are Back With a New, More Crowd-Friendly Routine

And at some airshows this season, they’ll be teaming up with the Blue Angels.

The DNA that is central to life on our own planet may not be a given in the rest of the universe.

The Science of Aliens, Part 2: What Kind of Genetic Code Would Extraterrestrials Have?

Alien life would likely have different biochemistry, which may change the way it reproduces.

A simulated airplane lands on the real Stanford campus, thanks to a bit of AR magic.

Now There’s a Way to Watch Your Friend’s (Simulated) Airplane Flying in the Real World (Sort of)

It sounds complicated, but it’s actually pretty clever.

Fritz von Opel celebrates a run in his RAK-2 rocket car in Berlin on May 23, 1928. He had the original black-and-white image colorized.

A Century Before Elon Musk, There Was Fritz von Opel

With the Austrian visionary Max Valier, this German tycoon started the world’s first rocket program.

Sunset on Mars, as seen by the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater. Could this be our ancestral home?

Could We Really All Be Martians?

Considering the likelihood of an exchange of microbes between Earth and Mars.

A Long March rocket carrying the Tianhe module blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province on April 29.

China Begins Building Its First Advanced Space Station

The first element of the country's new orbital outpost launches from Wenchang.

A model of the Soviet VEGA Venus spacecraft, with the white atmospheric balloon peeking out from behind.

The First Flight On Another World Wasn’t on Mars. It Was on Venus, 36 Years Ago

Cool as it is, <i>Ingenuity</i> does not mark the dawn of extraterrestrial aviation.

Soon after Ingenuity's lift-off and landing, the drone sent a black and white photo of its shadow during the flight back to engineers on Earth through the rover.

NASA's Mars Helicopter Completes First Historic Test Flight on Another Planet

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed Ingenuity's successful lift off into the Martian sky after receiving data from the Perseverance rover

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