Articles

“They’ll never get off the ground,” warned detractors of Aero Spacelines’ Guppy series of colossal cargo airplanes.

Flight Today

Big Idea

Megalifters prove you’re never too fat to fly.

Russian scientists have recently improved their probe by replacing the drill shown with a scoop device to collect soil in the weak gravity of Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons.<br />

Space Exploration

Mission Possible

A new probe to a Martian moon may win back respect for Russia’s unmanned space program.

In <i>You Only Live Twice</i>, Sean Connery flies an autogyro souped up with missiles, machine guns, and flame-throwers.

History of Flight

Live and Let Fly

Real pilots rate the performance of the airplanes in James Bond flicks.

Web Extra

History of Flight

The Airplanes of James Bond

After 46 hours watching all 22 films, our list numbers more than 150.

The shadow of their lander dominates a mosaic of the numbered photos Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took out their window before leaving the moon.

Space Exploration

Finding Apollo

Forty years later, we’re about to see what the moonwalkers left behind.

Heir to the P-47, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is a purpose-built CAS aircraft, one of many types Marines can call on in a jam.

Military Aviation

Control the Air

On the ground with Marines in Afghanistan, the author sees a different side of close air support.

The Intrepid took part in every major Pacific battle in the last two years of World War II.

Military Aviation

Restoration: USS Intrepid

Cleaning up an aircraft carrier.

At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, a study subject is wired for a spin in the Dynamic Environment Simulator, a centrifuge that excels in <br />inducing spatial disorientation.

Military Aviation

The Disorient Express

Despite the best training and technology, why do pilots still die from not knowing which end is up?

Web Extra

NASAs IKHANA research craft is a modified Predator B.

Flight Today

Do Drones Get Vertigo, Too?

Up there or down here, it can be a struggle to maintain “situational awareness.”

Web Extra

The P-47D carried eight guns and, on some models, rocket launchers.

Military Aviation

Book Excerpt: Hell Hawks!

How P-47s became the tank busters of World War II

The book that robbed the enemy of his secrets. A key to shapes shows a circle can be a haystack or a gun emplacement.

History of Flight

Portrait of the Enemy

Photographs taken from the world’s first warplanes changed the course of battle.

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In the Magazine

September 2008

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Need to Know

When did the term “jet lag” first come into use?

And has anybody found a cure?

New Worlds

Confidence Booster

This little known Apollo artifact caused astronauts to rest a little easier.

Air & Space Interview

Brigadier General Brooks Bash

A talk with the head of the Air Force transition team in Iraq.

Smithsonian magazine presents

Smithsonian's 5th Annual Photo Contest Winners

7,500 photographs, 82 countries, 50 finalists. And the seven winners are...

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