Aerospace Technology
Inventions and engineering achievements, including rockets, jet engines and navigation systems
How to Win Enemies and Influence Policy
From the halls of power to field laboratories, the Air Force Chief Scientist helps shape the future of U.S. flight.
August 2010 |
By Mark Wolverton
Evolution of the Space Shuttle
How 30 years changed the world's most complex flying machine.
July 2010 |
By Michael Klesius
Admit It, You Want One of These
Engineers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have built a "Distributed Flight Array"—self-assembling, yet—that could someday be used to airlift objects. See it in action:
June 10, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Good Times for Ken Bowersox
Most of the credit for Friday's near-perfect launch of the new Falcon 9 rocket rightly goes to Elon Musk, whose unusual blend of vision, competence, and almost compulsive candor (what other aerospace executive has the nerve to a) publish fixed launch prices, and b) openly criticize a U.S. Senator?)...
June 05, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
All Eyes on Falcon 9
SpaceX CEO and chief designer Elon Musk could be forgiven if he feels a little under-appreciated on the eve of his Falcon 9 rocket's first launch (liftoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. tomorrow from Cape Canaveral).The guy has been trying his damnedest for several years to bring down the cost of reac...
June 03, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Holiday Sampler
For the Memorial Day weekend, an assortment of news from the world of air and space:► The field of hypersonic flight has a new record: The Air Force's X-51A Waverider reached Mach 5 in a 200-second scramjet engine burn over the Pacific on Wednesday. Video below:► What looked at first like a sma...
May 28, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
A&S Interview: Ray Puffer
The former Air Force historian asks, "Can anyone dispute that I had the most interesting job in the entire Air Force?"
May 2010 |
By Perry Turner
Space Shuttle: The Time-Lapse Movie
A team of photographers captures Discovery's long journey to the launch pad.
May 17, 2010 |
By The Editors
A New Arm for the Space Station
As the space station gets its finishing touches (Atlantis carries up a new Russian storage module on tomorrow's STS-132 mission), we'll see some new gadgets come into play. One is the European Robotic Arm, due to be installed on the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module in 2012. A spare elbow for ...
May 13, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Pad Abort Test: The Videos
NASA has released better video of the recent launch abort system test in New Mexico. Some spectacular views here.
May 12, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Plume Power
The space shuttle's exhaust trail makes for a lovely sight on an April morning.
May 11, 2010 |
By Michael Klesius
Exit Strategy
NASA’s new launch abort system just passed a major test. But what booster and capsule will use it?
May 06, 2010 |
By Michael Klesius
Robonaut Gets His Mission
So we thought the last of NASA's rookie astronauts had flown, leaving only veterans on the final few space shuttle flights.Not so fast.One last rookie will be on board space shuttle Discovery when it blasts off in September for the STS-133 mission.After years languishing as a laboratory-only projec...
May 03, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
What Lies Beneath
You don't have to go to the moon to find out what it's made of.
May 2010 |
By Michael Klesius
Seven Slow Seconds
As opponents and advocates square off in Congress this year over the future of NASA's human spaceflight program, expect fireworks. But don't expect anything to happen too quickly. Kind of like this super-slo-mo video, which should bring out the pyro in you: the seven-seconds that the space shuttle ...
April 14, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
