Billionaire Richard Branson has set up Virgin Galactic as part of his dream to conquer the final frontier. But it's also a bet that could land him at the forefront of a new business: space tourism.

Richard Branson speaks on plan for space tourism (2:45)

Billionaire Elon Musk has donated money to the Mars Society in Utah. Its purpose is to help scientists prepare for the incredibly hostile conditions on the Red Planet.

Inside look at Elon Musk-funded Mars Simulation Project (2:42)

National Airlines Flight 102 took off from an airfield in northeastern Afghanistan on April 29, 2013. Minutes later, it would stall in midair before crashing.

Photographer witnesses final moments before plane crash (3:19)

On December 28, 2014, 43 minutes into its flight, AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished from radar. With 162 people on board, it would go down as one of the deadliest plane crashes that year.

AirAsia Flight 8501 plummets into the Java Sea mid-flight (2:56)

One big challenge facing Jaguar in its switch from steel to aluminum was how to utilize this lighter, less flexible alloy. For inspiration, they turned to an entirely new field: aerospace.

Why Jaguar uses aerospace aluminum to build its cars (3:09)

Without Nicholas Straussler, D-Day wouldn't have been possible. He came up with the design for the Duplex Drives tanks—a key part of the initial invasion at Normandy.

This inventor made the famed D-Day swimming tanks (2:47)

The Bayer airship spent most of 2013 touring the world, with stops in New York, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, and Barcelona, among other locations. This video captures the ship's flight over Zurich, Switzerland, in July.

Bayer Airship Over Zurich (2:00)

“I learned about it last winter and decided I was going to jump it the second I found out it existed,” says Jeb Corliss, speaking of The Crack. It’s a code name for a fissure in the Earth somewhere outside Zurich, Switzerland where he’s spent much of the summer BASE jumping (Buildings, Antennas, Spans, and Earth) in his custom wing suit. From the top of a peak whose name also remains guarded by the wing suit cognoscenti, he jumped and flew forward for a minute and 20 seconds, dropping only a foot for every three feet forward. Not content to fly above The Crack, he dropped in deep for some Star Wars style groove cruising that should make your head spin. Hang on to the arms of your desk chair. Video: Jeb Corliss. Outside camera work by Jeff Nebelkopf.

Jeb Corliss in Flight (2:13)

On the night of April 17, 2010, Justin Stouder of St. Louis, Missouri, was in his front yard testing a laser pointer with a friend. Stouder, 24, was pointing the laser at a distant tower when a Metro Air Support police helicopter appeared in the line of sight about 1.5 miles away and 1,500 feet up. After the laser hit the helicopter, police and the FBI—with help from the pilot—moved in to arrest Stouder. He completed a one-year pre-trial diversion program, which included supervision and probation. “I could have caused the pilots to crash,” he says.

Shining Lasers at Aircraft Can Get You Busted (2:19)

On January 20, 1974, General Dynamics test pilot Phil Oestricher readied the first YF-16 for its first “hop,” a brief flight just a few feet above the runway. But the simulator Oestricher had trained in did not adequately portray control-stick forces, and he hadn’t learned to judge how much aileron he was commanding. After liftoff, the YF-16 could barely be controlled, and Oestricher decided it would be safer to take off, try to regain control, and land.

The F-16’s First Flight (0:45)

At night, deep in the jungle during the Vietnam War, eerie sounds were used to represent the dead. The U.S. military would broadcast an audio mix called “Wandering Soul” (also known as “Ghost Tape Number 10”) to try to persuade North Vietnamese troops to go home. It exploited the Buddhist belief that once a person dies, his body must be buried in the family plot or his soul will wander aimlessly.

"The Wandering Soul" (1:14)

On May 14, 2013, for the first time in history, an aircraft with no pilot onboard took off from a modern, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The X-47B demonstrator launched from the USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia at 11:18 a.m., and flew to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. “Today we saw a small, but significant pixel in the future picture of our Navy,” said Vice Adm. David Buss, commander of the Naval Air Forces. US Navy Video: Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Andrew Johnson

X-47B First Carrier Launch (1:25)

Space Panorama is a sparkling recreation of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Standing behind a large black clothed table, accompanied by a narrator and music from Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, we explore this surface and the spaces above it using only hands, arms and upper torso to create a constantly entrancing documentary of the entire mission. (Performed by Andrew Dawson; Narrated by Gavin Robertson; Directed by Jos Houben)

Space Panorama (5:09)

This animation, produced by manufacturer Sierra Nevada, shows Dream Chaser carrying out the mission it was designed for: taking off from Earth, flying to and docking with the International Space Station, and returning. Unlike the two other vehicles competing for the job of space shuttle successor, Dream Chaser has a shape similar to that of its forebear. However, its propulsion is different: Dream Chaser is launched on an Atlas V. On the way to the station, the two stages of the launcher gradually fall away, and from then on, Dream Chaser is powered by its hybrid engines. On the return trip, the vehicle would experience less that 1.5 Gs on reentry into Earth's atmosphere, and would glide to a landing on an airport runway.

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser (4:01)

Before John Young and Robert Crippen’s STS-1 mission in April 1981, no astronauts had ever landed a spaceship on a runway. In their postflight briefing, Young (the first voice in this clip) and pilot Crippen describe their first-time return of a shuttle from orbit, during which the vehicle executed a series of S-turns, or roll reversals, like a skier slaloming downhill to manage speed.

STS-1: The First Shuttle Landing (5:55)

In 1944, Robert Turnell and Ray Owen flew Hellcats from the USS Wasp; last year at the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, they had some catching up to do. This video follows the veterans as they meet again and as their family members explain what the reunion has meant to all of them. (Video: Michelle Donoghue)

Hellcat Pilots of VF-81 (3:36)

Acclaimed director Peter Jackson has a fantastic collection of 70 World War I aircraft. But host Phil Keoghan isn’t just interested in seeing them—he wants to fly one. And you can, too.

Here's how you can fly in one of Peter Jackson's WWI planes. (2:50)

This sequence from the 1947 Air Force film "Liberators Over Europe" captures some of the B-24's best-known missions.

Liberators Over Europe (6:00)