History of Flight, Aviation, Space Exploration

Snapshot

Find an Airshow

Video of the Day

The Space Shuttle Era

Find Out More

Based on the popular print Collector's Edition Space Shuttle 1981-2011, this digital version includes bonus interactive features, extra photographs, and multiple videos.

Blogs

If it flies, hovers, launches, or orbits, you can read about it here.

Astronaut Don Pettit blogs from space—and other exotic locales.

Lunar scientist Paul Spudis on the current U.S. space program.

Inside the cockpit with airline pilot Steve Satre.

Ruminations on flight by George Larson.

Reader Scrapbook

Discovery's Tail-Cone Fitting

Check out our scrapbook of readers' aviation and space pictures. Then add your own.

Editors' Picks

The 120,000-Foot Leap

Can space-diver Felix Baumgartner break the sound barrier without breaking his neck?

One-and-Onlies: The Complete List

All the Smithsonian’s one-of-a-kind aircraft

How Things Work: Space Station Steering

How do you maneuver a million-pound spacecraft?

The Invention of Flight

Inventors, dreamers, daredevils, charlatans: Aviation's early years had them all.

High Spy: The Amazing U-2

Still keeping watch after more than 50 years.

Security for Life

Is the TSA forever? We're interested in your opinion.

Photo Essay

Spooky Skies

Just in time for Halloween, a collection of aviation mysteries.

Flight Today

“Get Us Off This Plane!”

When you’re trapped on an airliner, Kate Hanni wants to help.
By Perry Turner

The Daily Planet Blog

Pilots, Look Down

To find their way home, aviators used to be able to read the rooftops.
By Rebecca Maksel

Space Exploration

Printed in Space

If your star tracker breaks on the way to the moon, just hit Command P.
By Mark Betancourt

Military Aviation

Restoration: Carpenter’s Special

De Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito
By Graham Chandler

Space Exploration

Hollywood’s Spacesuits

A sci-fi historian’s guide to movie spacesuits, from wacky to realistic.
By Diane Tedeschi

The Once and Future Moon Blog

Water from the Sun

What is the ultimate source of the water found at the poles of the Moon? A new study of some lunar soil samples suggests a surprising answer.
By Paul D. Spudis

History of Flight

Who Was Fatty Pearson?

A World War II British foot soldier’s best friend in the air, and the man who rescued Ernest Hemingway.
By Tim Belknap

Space Exploration

Pint-Size Sky Watchers

While monster telescopes get the attention, the little guys quietly — and cheaply — rack up cosmic finds.
By Damond Benningfield

Photos

The Airports of Curtis Fentress

The art of the passenger terminal.
By The Editors

History of Flight

And the Oscar Goes to... the Airplane!

Some of the airplanes that loom largest in our collective memory have flown only in the movies.
By Preston Lerner

History of Flight

Flying in Comfort

75 years ago, the Army Air Corps’ XC-35 launched the pressurized cabin.
By George C. Larson

On Air Blog

The Eye of the Beholder

For its innovation and emphasis on inner beauty, the Hondajet deserves a recent design award.
By George Larson

In 1938, these TWA stewardesses were honored for each having completed a quarter-million miles or more of flying. � Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum

History of Flight

The Golden Age of Flight Attendants

A new book documents the evolution of stewardesses from registered nurses to starlets in the sky.
By Bruce McAllister and Stephan Wilkinson

Military Aviation

Due South of Key West

Flying fast and low over Castro’s Cuba.
By Paul Hoversten

History of Flight

Home Sweet Duralumin

A Buckminster Fuller design was grounded in aerospace technology.
By Nick D’Alto

Photos

Early Flight in Louisiana

A new book documents the barnstormers, aircraft designers, and airline entrepreneurs who made their mark in the deep South.
By Vincent P. Caire

Military Aviation

Cuba During the Missile Crisis

Fifty years later, Cubans remember preparing to fight the Americans.
By Rafael Lima

Military Aviation

When the Missiles Left Cuba

A Navy aircrew got it on film.
By Paul F. Stiller

Military Aviation

Kennedy’s Evidence

Low-level aerial photos confirmed that Soviet nuclear missiles were in Cuba in 1962.
By Roger Mola

Marines and Navy corpsmen from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, rush a wounded Marine to a CH-46 helicopter for medical evacuation at Observation Post Falcons.

Military Aviation

Evacuating the Injured

A Marine Corps pilot flies CASEVAC missions in Iraq.
By Rocky Checca

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