January 2012

Opening Announcements, Cover, Contents

Viewport, Letters, What’s Up, Soundings, In the Museum, Above & Beyond, Oldies & Oddities

Sightings, Reviews & Previews, Credits, Forecast, Moments & Milestones

1 Visionary + 3 Launchers + 1,500 Employees = ?

Is SpaceX changing the rocket equation?

By Andrew Chaikin

A Pearl Harbor Mystery

How a 1940s Interstate Cadet trainer sent a famous airshow pilot on a journey to find a kindred spirit.

By John Fleischman

The Kids Are Trying to Crash

Remote-control models face off in the Extreme Flight Championships.

By Preston Lerner

How Things Work: Dropping in on Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover will try a new way of landing on another planet.

By Tony Reichhardt

Design by Rutan

A retrospective of Burt Rutan's high-performance art.

By The Editors

Pointer & Shooter

To nail the air-to-air shot, pilot and photographer have to work together like, well, this pair.

By Debbie Gary

The Second-Moon Theory

Is Earth's moon the product of a big splat as well as a big whack?

By Damond Benningfield

The Other Air Forces

Humorist Bruce McCall's small fleet of little-known aircraft.

By Bruce McCall

The Candle Lighters

Alan Shepard was brave enough to ride the Mercury-Redstone rocket. These guys were brave enough to light it.

By Tony Reichhardt