Flying Machines
Vehicles designed for air and space flightExplore Air & Space articles about types of air and spacecraft.
Water Bears and Star(c)hips
A few random thoughts on Day 11 of Endeavour‘s last flight: Tomorrow STS-134 astronaut Mike Fincke will become the U.S. record holder for time spent in space, eclipsing chief astronaut Peggy Whitson’s 377-day mark. Not bad for a guy who once washed out of Air Force fighter pilot training. “My arms weren’t golden enough to [...]
May 26, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
So Long, Spirit
Last night NASA made one last attempt to contact the Spirit Mars rover, which got stuck in the sand two years ago and hadn’t been heard from since March 22. Nobody expected a response after 1200 previous unanswered messages, and sure enough, there was no answer from Mars. So, with the chances of success “practically [...]
May 25, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Presidential Pronouncements on Space: Some 50th Anniversary Thoughts
Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s special address to Congress – a request for supplemental appropriation for a variety of projects but most famously remembered for the announcement of his Man-Moon-Decade goal of Project Apollo. That event, cited by space advocates and excerpted in space and history documentaries, is remembered as [...]
May 24, 2011 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Hairstyles of the Astronauts
Weightlessness does wonders for your 'do. Vote on your favorite zero-g look.
May 19, 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel and Tony Reichhardt
Young Visitors Inspire Old Scientist
A perennial hand-wringing topic among policy geeks is America’s decline in math and science proficiency. This sentiment has been expressed the entire 30 years I’ve worked on space science and exploration – new generations don’t care about space, can’t do math and science, can’t think properly and ...
May 14, 2011 |
By Paul D. Spudis
The Turtle Flies!
Gamera, you'll recall from Japanese horror movies, was a giant, fire-breathing, flying turtle that used to terrorize Tokyo (and battle Godzilla) back in the 1960s.So what else would students at the University of Maryland—whose mascot is a terrapin—name their flying contraption, which yesterday appe...
May 13, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
What Apollo 15 Got Right
A post-splashdown scandal did not undermine the mission’s scientific achievements.
May 13, 2011 |
By Diane Tedeschi
Crossing the Atlantic by Balloon (and Other Means)
When Jules Verne's novel Five Weeks in a Balloon: or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen was translated into English in 1869, it appeared with this publisher's note: "So far as the geography, the inhabitants, the animals, and the features of the countries the travellers pass ove...
May 12, 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Helo With a Halo
Plenty of buzz going around about the mysterious stealth chopper left behind by U.S. Navy SEALs after they shot and killed Osama bin Laden last Monday morning, local time, in Pakistan.Having suffered technical problems and a hard landing, the helo apparently couldn't fly back out of bin Laden's com...
May 06, 2011 |
By Mike Klesius
Thunderbirds Are Go!
Who can forget billionaire ex-spaceman Jeff Tracy and his five sons (Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon, and John), each named after a Mercury astronaut? Remember how they—through their organization (International Rescue)—um...rescued people...internationally? Ok, so they were puppets. Deal with it, peop...
May 05, 2011 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Who's short-sighted?
Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan recently voiced his doubts and concerns over the future of the human spaceflight program, while former Lockheed-Martin CEO Norman Augustine reflected on the current state of our space “vision” and/or the possible lack thereof. I found these perspectives by two gia...
May 04, 2011 |
By Paul D. Spudis
“That’s Professor Global Hawk”
A remote-piloted warrior starts flying for science.
May 2011 |
By Kara Platoni
The Mojave Launch Lab
A community of alternative rocketeers who may one day dominate the space biz.
May 2011 |
By Stephen Joiner
Take a Ride in a B-25
From engine fumes to exhilaration, here’s what to expect.
May 2011 |
By Phil Scott
A&S Interview: George Mueller
One of the guiding geniuses behind the Apollo program is the winner of this year's National Air and Space Museum Trophy for lifetime achievement.
May 2011 |
By Michael Klesius
