Topic: Flying Machines

Flying Machines

Vehicles designed for air and space flight

Explore Air & Space articles about types of air and spacecraft.
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The rivers of Titan

If I were running the space program—which is unlikely, I admit—Saturn's moon Titan would be very high on the list of destinations for the next major planetary mission. Sure, Mars is appealing, largely because of its similarity to Earth.But take a look at this radar image of Titan's northern polar r...
September 16, 2009 | By Tony Reichhardt

I Aim at the Stars…but sometimes I only make viewgraphs

Over the long holiday weekend, Turner Classic Movies regaled us with a really obscure one – the 1960 biopic, I Aim at the Stars, starring Curd Jürgens.  This movie is a biography of Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist who built the V-2 for Hitler and the Saturn V for America.  Although n...
September 09, 2009 | By Paul D. Spudis

The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was the first airliner able to soar above the storms, thanks to a new cabin pressurization system.

Above It All

It took a maze of valves and venturis—and a trio of tycoons—to whisk passengers into the stratosphere.
September 2009 | By Nick D'Alto

Inventions large and small have combined over the years to create the modern experience of air travel. And you don’t have to be a frequent flier to know that today’s airliner is still a work in progress: What you see today may not be there tomorrow.

Anatomy of an Airliner

Our maxim: The airlines giveth, and the airlines taketh away.
September 2009 | By The Editors

Designers (from left) Tom Hudspeth, Harold Rosen, and Don Williams, holding a tube for amplifying radio frequency signals, surround the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, Syncom.

Spin Doctors

For that satellite dish on your roof and the phone calls you make to Japan, you can thank Harold Rosen.
September 2009 | By Guy Gugliotta

Before the SpeedHawk, Piasecki studied how Cobras (pictured) and Apaches would fly with ducted propellers.

Hot-Rod Helicopters

There’s just no way to add 100 mph to the speed of a helicopter. Or is there?
September 2009 | By James R. Chiles

At Northrop Grumman’s model shop in El Segundo, California, Gary Miley applies gel to form a mold he will use to create a model blank.

Martial Arts

Memo to bad guys: Wanna know what U.S. warplanes you’ll tangle with in the future? Visit an aerospace model shop.
September 2009 | By Chad Slattery

The BA609.

Tiltrotors for the Rest of Us

An Osprey for commuters? Bring it on. Can we get a quiet car too?
September 2009 | By Mark Wolverton

If engineers can corral liquid hydrogen, reshape pressure waves, and make fuel from algae, future airline passengers will travel around the world at hypersonic speeds in strange-looking aircraft.

The Perfect Airplane

Fast, green, and quiet. Come on, brainiacs, you can do it.
September 2009 | By Ed Regis

If you think airliner toilets are bad, check out the disposable pants (from the space shuttle era) you’d use in space.

In The Museum: Toilet Training

September 2009 | By Rebecca Maksel

In the May 25, 1909 issue of Britain’s The Aero, a caption referred to “The ailerons or small planes” (arrows) on Samuel Cody’s British Army Aeroplane.

Oldies and Oddities: Where Do Ailerons Come From?

September 2009 | By Tom Crouch

AmSafe

Is bracing for impact really helpful in an airline crash?

Or is it just meant to make us feel like we're doing something?
August 26, 2009 | By Rebecca Maksel

Scientists vs. The Icy Commander

In 1961, Alan B. Shepard’s successful 15-minute sub-orbital hop gave President Kennedy the high cover needed to announce a reach for the Moon, “by the end of this decade.” America’s spirit was lifted and Alan Shepard became a national hero, getting ticker tape parades and White House receptions. T...
August 21, 2009 | By Paul D. Spudis

Rutan in his VariEze, back in the day.

The Magician of Mojave

Burt Rutan remembers the birth of the VariEze and names his favorite aircraft.
August 2009 | By Linda Shiner

The National Air and Space Museum

Last of its Kind

A look inside the Smithsonian's Stratoliner.
August 14, 2009 | By Paul Hoversten

Boeing’s X-48B, a 500-pound blended wing-body demonstrator with a wingspan of 21 feet, banks over California’s Mojave Desert.

Batplane

Even around other X-planes, the X-48B looks weird.
August 2009 | By Peter Garrison

Two Views of The Vision

Last week, the Augustine Commission held another public meeting in Washington DC and Dr. John Marburger testified. For those just joining our story in progress, Marburger was President Bush’s Science Advisor and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House between...
August 11, 2009 | By Paul D. Spudis

Next Step or No Step

The Moon versus Mars controversy has reared its ugly head yet again. For the newcomers, this is the perennial “debate” among space buffs about what the next destination in space should be. I do not mean to suggest that all possibilities are encompassed by these two options; it just seems that mos...
August 03, 2009 | By Paul D. Spudis

Can Pete Buck adapt technology to convert a Sonex model into a practical electric airplane?

The Electric Airplane

Quiet, smooth, dependable—shouldn’t we be flying these by now?
August 2009 | By Peter Garrison

A technician employs the proverbial 10-foot pole to extract a contaminated filter from a Republic F-84. With samplers mounted, there was no room for wingtip fuel tanks.

Into the Mushroom Cloud

Most pilots would head away from a thermonuclear explosion.
August 2009 | By Mark Wolverton


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