Governmental Aerospace Programs
The Federal Aviation Administration, air mail, space programs and military aviation
The Curse of the Cargomaster
Readied to transport the first U.S. ICBMs, the Douglas C-133 had a peculiar habit. It kept crashing.
September 2010 |
By John Sotham
Case Closed
Mysteries solved, secrets revealed, and questions finally answered.
September 2010 |
By The Editors
What Made Yuri Fall?
Igor Kuznetsov reopened the Gagarin inquest to find out.
September 2010 |
By Andrew Osborn
The Force Is With Them
What changes the speed of spacecraft flying by Earth?
September 2010 |
By Sam Kean
A.W.O.L.
You may have read about the X-37B, the U.S. Air Force's new unmanned orbital spaceplane, in our January issue. The secretive satellite with space-shuttlesque delta wings made its first launch on April 22 of this year atop an Atlas V rocket, and has been in orbit since, visible on the web via a numb...
August 26, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
The Moon: Creating Capability in Space and Getting Value for our Money
Of all the possible destinations in space, the Moon offers the proximity, accessibility, and materials necessary to learn how to use what we find in space to create new capabilities. Harvesting the resources of the Moon will allow us to make what we need in space, rather than carrying it with us f...
August 24, 2010 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Wings of Honor
The World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., was built to honor the 16 million Americans who served in the armed forces during that conflict, the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported their efforts from the homefront. But the Greatest Generation is aging rapidly, and about 1,200 World...
August 20, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Remembering Belka and Strelka
By some definitions, you could say that spaceflight began 50 years ago today.On August 19, 1960, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 5 capsule containing 40 mice, two rats, a rabbit, some fruit flies, plants—and a pair of dogs, Belka ("Whitey") and Strelka ("Little Arrow.") They were the first li...
August 19, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
B-24 Understudy Fills Big Shoes
Just two weeks ago, the Commemorative Air Force returned its B-29 Superfortress, Fifi, to flight after six years of down time while the airplane was fitted with customized engines (maintainers had found metal shavings in the engine oil). The CAF planned to re-launch Fifi as the signature aircraft f...
August 18, 2010 |
By Pat Trenner
He May Be a Smart Physicist, But...
Here's Stephen Hawking, commenting on humanity’s future:
...Our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only c...
August 11, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Nobody knows ….. how dry I am
The never-ending saga of water on the Moon continues apace. In the latest revelation, it is now claimed that the Moon is indeed “dry” after all and never had much water (this new finding is only in regard to endogenous lunar water contained inside the Moon, not to water that has been or is being ...
August 07, 2010 |
By Paul D. Spudis
Dog Ate My Homework
The cabaret known as the U.S. Air Force's KC-X tanker competition is getting in some high-kicks now, baby. This summer, a little known company with 30 employees called U.S. Aerospace, which had changed its name from New Century only last March, and which has had some recent questions surrounding it...
August 06, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
Low Jinks in the Mach Loop
How do you complete a marathon in four minutes? In a jet fighter, of course, at 400-plus knots. That's how this Tornado pilot and others fly the Mach Loop in Wales. The loop is a 26-mile ring of valleys in a region designated by the British military as Low Flying Area 7, one of several such regi...
August 03, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
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
A&S Interview: Story Musgrave
The veteran astronaut is the only person to fly on all five space shuttle orbiters.
August 2010 |
By Diane Tedeschi
The Air Force in 2030
Forecasting technology is a notoriously tricky business. In spite of all the predictions, we still don't have fusion power or flying cars, but in 2010 you can kick around a virtual soccer ball using a handheld camera phone, and who saw that coming?It's the job of the Air Force Chief Scientist and h...
July 30, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
The Flying Fortress Turns 75
A classic symbol of World War II aviation, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is celebrating its 75th anniversary of flight today. To commemorate the airplane’s long history, at least four of them will be at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this week.Of the nearly 13,000 B-17s produced between...
July 28, 2010 |
By Mary McKillop
The Most Well-Traveled Nobel in the Universe
On May 14, 2010, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis left for the International Space Station (ISS) on its 32nd and final flight, it carried some typical items on board: the Russian mini-research module (which provided a new docking port and storage space for the ISS), and a cargo carrier filled with s...
July 27, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
