Grumman workers pose with one of their lunar modules (LM-12) at the company

Space Exploration

Apollo’s Army

It took 400,000 people, working under extreme pressure, to reach the moon in 1969. Like any army, they suffered casualties.
By The Editors

Also see: An Apollo Anthology

Buzz Aldrin, back in the lunar module <i>Eagle</i> after the first moonwalk.

Unchanged

The myth of the spiritual spaceman.
By Matthew Hersch

Testing the AiResearch Advanced Extravehicular Suit’s range of motion in the 1960s.

Space Suits Past and Future

Bill Elkins has been outfitting astronauts since before NASA was born.
By Michael Klesius

An Apollo Anthology

An Apollo Anthology

A collection of readings, pictures, and videos to mark the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.

With data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, scientists mapped Martian topography, with “D” the planned destination for the Phoenix lander.

Then and Now: Mars Travel Guide

By Paul Hoversten

Testing an Orion mockup in the Atlantic, April 2009.

Trial by Water

NASA tests the seaworthiness of its new moonship.

The Mercury Seven: (from left) Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.

The Seven

In 1959, a group of military pilots became Astronaut Heroes overnight, and created an American icon that survives to this day.
By Matthew Hersch

“Amiable Strangers”

Three distinct personalities, one goal: reach the moon.

In NASA jargon, it’s called “egress” — the moment an astronaut leaves the hatch to begin a spacewalk (here, during shuttle mission STS-92 in 2000).

Step Outside

Shuck the spacecraft. 182 spacewalkers have.
By Tony Reichhardt

Far out: Pluto’s methane ice boils off into its thin atmosphere in a misty scene no human has observed. In the background are Pluto moons Charon and tiny Nix (upper left). Beyond lies the Kuiper Belt, one of the solar system’s most mysterious regions.

Where the Wild Things Are

We’re about to get a peek at the solar system’s final frontier.
By Guy Gugliotta

Hubble Favorites

A National Air and Space Museum astronomer picks some of his favorite images from the storied telescope.

The rescued crew would transfer from one shuttle to the other along the robot arm.

The Shuttle Mission No One Wants

If STS-400 launches, be prepared for one of the most dramatic spaceflights ever.
By Paul Hoversten

Joe Tanner works outside the International Space Station during the STS-115 mission.

Tools of the (Astronaut) Trade

What you'll need to assemble your own space station.
By Joe Pappalardo

The Last Days of T.rex

Maybe an asteroid wasn't to blame after all.
By Bob Craddock

Bill Borucki's Planet Search

Finding another Earth may be easier than the Kepler project's long quest for funding.
By Andrew Lawler

Voices from the Moon

What it was like, in the astronauts’ own words. Excerpts from a new book by Andrew Chaikin.

Two-Timer

Where do you take your next vacation after you’ve been to space? If you’re billionaire Charles Simonyi, you go back.
By Irene Klotz

An Orion-derived spacecraft approaches an asteroid, with Earth in the distant background.

The Million Mile Mission

A small band of believers urges NASA to take its next step—onto an asteroid.
By Michael Klesius

Astronaut Walter Schirra during the 11-day Apollo 7 flight in October 1968. Schirra and crewmates Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham suffered flu-like symptoms, which many now believe were due to space sickness.

Sick in Space

It’s not just a problem for astronauts anymore.
By Michael Klesius

With $79 million on the line, NASA hopes a crash landing detected by a companion spacecraft will yield valuable data about lunar ice.

Lunar Smackdown

A spacecraft bites the lunar dust.
By Mohi Kumar

Rick Searfoss, former space shuttle commander, now XCOR’s chief test pilot, has helped make the desert town of Mojave the world capital of civilian manned rocket vehicle flight.

License to Thrill

Meet the first commercial rocketship pilots.
By Michael Belfiore

The hardest working band in the space business, at the 2004 RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival.

Max Q Live

In space no one can hear you sing.
By Michael Cassutt

Satellite Smashers

Space-faring nations: Clean up low Earth orbit or you're grounded.
By Tony Reichhardt

The roving Mars Science Laboratory prepares to drop to the Martian surface, using a new (for Mars) Skycrane maneuver.

Legs, Bags, or Wheels?

When choosing landing gear for Mars spacecraft, engineers have to weigh their options-literally.
By Tony Reichhardt

Weightless Workouts

A new fitness machine on the space station brings astronaut exercise into the 21st century

All-sky-camera images in Australia record meteor tracks — and, among star tracks, Comet McNaught and an Iridium satellite.

Fireball!

Nothing gets your attention quite like a meteor screaming in at 40 miles a second.
By Tony Reichhardt

One of these shuttle astronauts could get the call for a moon mission. Top to bottom, left to right: Terry Virts, mission specialists Robert Behnken, Karen Nyberg, pilots Jim “Vegas” Kelly, Mark Kelly, Pam Melroy, Randy Bresnik, and mission specialist Megan McArthur.

Fly Us to the Moon

The next lunar explorers will soon report to Houston. Are some already there?
By Michael Cassutt

Mercury astronaut John Glenn in 1962.

Is It Safe?

The first company with a plan—and a rocket—to send humans to orbit answers the existential question.
By Michael Milstein

Red Whittaker with his namesake, Red Rover II. Hours after Google announced its Lunar X Prize, Whittaker threw his ’bot in the ring.

Red and The Robots

Red Whittaker’s rovers have already gone where no robot has gone before. Will one of them make it to the moon?
By Geoffrey Little

Malin with the prototype of one of his cameras in 1999. The flight version was lost on the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander later that year.

A Cameraman on Mars

If you really want to know the planet, flip through Mike Malin’s photo album.
By Andrew Chaikin

Before crashing into the moon, the Ranger spacecraft sent back images of the lunar surface 1000 times better than what could be obtained from telescopes on Earth.

A Smashing Success

How the Ranger probes’ moon crashes helped pave the way for Apollo.
By Paul Hoversten

The first humans to travel to another world get a sendoff from the closeout crew before boarding their spacecraft, December 21, 1968. Bill Anders is at right.

To Boldly Go

Sending Apollo 8 to the moon was a risky mix of cold war politics, bravery, and the faith of one man, George Low, in his engineers.
By Michael Klesius

NASA’s Ethiraj Venkatapathy (left) and Betsy Pugel, and the Museum’s Hanna Szczepanowska, look over Apollo heat shields.

In the Museum: Hot Commodity

By Michael Klesius

European astronaut Frank De Winne checks out a mockup of a new space station sleep compartment.

Company Expected

Three more people will soon move into the International Space Station—and they’ll be drinking, um….
By Michael Klesius

The PSLV rocket that launched Chandrayaan-1, on its way to the pad.

India Aims for the Moon

A U.S. scientist reports from the scene of India's first lunar launch.
By Paul D. Spudis

Photo Essay: The Red Album

Mars’ foremost photographers pick their favorite images of their favorite planet.

A & S Interview: Richard Garriott

A second generation space traveler talks about his upcoming tourist trip to the space station.
By Irene Klotz

A ground-based receiver would collect microwaves beamed from an orbiting solar power satellite.

Where the Sun Does Shine

Will space solar power ever be practical?
By Linda Shiner

Mission to Mir

At the start of a new partnership, U.S. and Russian space travelers learn that every long journey begins with a single step.
By Tom Harpole

Artist

End Run

A small band of rogue rocketeers takes on the NASA establishment.
By Michael Klesius

Reader Scrapbook

Snapshot

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Air & Space Videos

In the Magazine

July 2009

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Air & Space Interview

A&S Interview: Captain Eric Brown

Holder of the Guinness World Record for most types of aircraft flown

New Worlds

Confidence Booster

This little known Apollo artifact caused astronauts to rest a little easier.