Table of contents for September 2020 in Air & Space

Saturn’s moon Titan may be my favorite place in the solar system. The creature comforts of Earth notwithstanding, our planet can be incredibly complicated to study—everything here is so intricate and so teeming with life that we often need to look out into the solar system for analogs to help us understand the basic mechanisms here at home. And that’s what makes Titan so extraordinary. It lacks pesky things like people and plants that can interfere with scientific observations, yet it has so much of what we take for granted here on Earth—lakes and seas, wind and tides, even volcanoes—that it is irresistible to a planetary scientist like me. And we still haven’t ruled out that those seas may host something on a path to life. I WILL NEVER FORGET…

For decades, radio telescopes have been eavesdropping on the cosmos, hoping to detect alien signals. Now NASA is expanding the scope of that search: For the first time, it has awarded a grant to a SETI project that will search for technosignatures other than radio signals. “Our imagination is limited by what we have accomplished as a technological civilization,” says Abraham Loeb, the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University. “Whereas radio communication was a new technology 70 years ago, we can now imagine the signatures of other advanced technologies.” The next generation of telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, will offer researchers the means to detect subtle biosignatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets. But life doesn’t necessarily mean intelligence, and SETI researchers at the…

After nearly half a century of service, Qantas bid farewell to its last Boeing 747-400. Hundreds of aviation enthusiasts looked on as the jumbo jet called Queen of the Skies departed Sydney Airport on July 22, bound for the United States where it will join other retired aircraft in the Mojave Desert. While the 747’s retirement had been previously planned, it was moved up six months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Aussie 747s saw a lot of history over the decades, such as in 1974 when they were used to evacuate more than 600 people after Cyclone Tracy passed through the Northern Territory and in 2004 when they delivered medical supplies to the Maldives and Sri Lanka after that year’s tsunami. As it flew for the last time, the…

Your latest book, How to Astronaut: An Insider’s Guide to Leaving Planet Earth , is based on what you experienced during your 200-day stay on the International Space Station, from December 2014 through June 2015. In the book, you talk about “space brain.” What is that? Being in space can be really disorienting. First of all, you’re floating, which kind of freaks your brain out. It’s not something that we’re used to doing. And second of all, there’s a lot of carbon dioxide in the air. Carbon dioxide absolutely has a bad effect on your cognitive abilities. [The degree of effect] is based on how long you’ve been in space, and how high the CO2 levels are. You’re just slower, and your thought process is not as clear. You can also…

How it works: Twenty-one libraries, archives, and museum departments from across the Institution contribute projects to the Transcription Center. In other words, there’s a project for everyone! To get started: Visit transcription. si.edu Do I need any special skills? All you need is an Internet connection, and to be 14 years of age or older. What kind of materials are available? Field notes, diaries, logbooks, specimen labels, audio recordings, and much more. When will the William J. Powell Collection be posted? September 1, 2020. What’s next? As soon as one project is completed, another is posted. But in 2021, the archives hopes to post the Arthur C. Clarke collection, more than 180 boxes of materials from the sci-fi master.…

SHE WAS SELF-MADE . She’d put herself through university, flight school, and all her multi-engine, instrument, instructor, and commercial ratings by working several jobs. She was confident she would have a successful career flying jets for an international carrier. In 1993 what Michele Halleran wanted was adventure, so she started out flying DC-3s for Four Star Air Cargo out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. A few months later, when seaplane operators caught her eye, she grabbed a jump seat one day to Winter Haven, Florida, learning how to taxi on the water at Jack Brown Seaplane Base and earning her ratings on a STOL UC-1 Twin Bee in a single weekend. But something wasn’t right. At Four Star Aviation, as the “only woman pilot in the Caribbean within a thousand-mile…

BARON MANFRED VON RICHTHOFEN said that a single photoreconnaissance airplane was often more valuable than an entire fighter squadron during World War I. For the Allies, one of the most valuable of the aerial photographers carried by recon aircraft was Captain Alfred Buckham, whose stunning photos of aircraft, landscapes, and seascapes can still be seen on display in art galleries and exhibitions more than a century after he took to the skies. A teacher of photography at Borough Polytechnic Institute in London, Buckham had won 33 awards for his work before joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, where he helped pioneer techniques for the new wartime discipline of aerial reconnaissance. While he took some of his photographs at ground level—such as this closeup (above) of an SSZ 59 non-rigid…

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY HOURS, according to Scottish-American designer Don Mitchell, was the amount of time required for an airplane hobbyist of average skill to assemble the airframe of his ultralight U-2 Superwing—plus another hundred hours to install the engine and paint it. A refinement of the B-10 design Mitchell had first flown in 1976, this 1979 model improved upon the earlier airplane by adding a fully enclosed cockpit and wingtip rudders that could be operated independently for yaw control or simultaneously for aerodynamic braking. (The pitch and roll control came courtesy of stabilators on the trailing edge of each outboard wing panel.) Featuring nose-wheel steering and braking, the U-2 could use retractable or fixed landing gear, according to each builder’s preference. But what was likely even more attractive to the…

Not so Ephemeral Your “Trash to Treasure” article (June/July 2020) reminded me about an old envelope [right] I found promoting the 1933 Miami All-American Air Races. I thought the image was just of a fanciful airplane, but it is a Lockheed Model 8 Sirius designed by Jack Northrop and Gerard Vultee in 1929. The first one was purchased by Charles Lindbergh. LARRY KING Jacksonville, Florida As I read “Trash to Treasure,” I felt a burst of nostalgia. In the years immediately after World War II, General Mills cereal group put lightweight card stock sheets inside their Wheaties boxes. Printed on the cards were single-engine fighters from the war. The card’s several shapes were to be cut out, folded, rolled, glued, and assembled. The builder glued a penny to the nose…

Vietnam came to the aid of a Japanese military aircraft in dire need of refueling earlier this year, prompting a warm display of gratitude from the Japan Self-Defense Forces. “We sincerely appreciate your kindness to offer help when we were facing difficulties,” the agency said in a video posted on Twitter and Facebook on July 3. “We will never forget our strong ties.” In April, the P-3C Orion—a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft developed for the U.S. Navy—was returning home following an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. The aircraft and its 19 crew members needed to refuel in order to complete its 6,200-mile trip, but nobody would allow them to land due to Covid-19 restrictions. Finally, the aircraft secured a transit point at Vietnam’s Tan Son Nhat…

THE DECISION WOULD BE MADE at about 60,000 feet. Provided nothing had gone fatally wrong and the space shuttle could still be maneuvered into a stable glide, the astronauts aboard, who only minutes before had been on their way to orbit, would prepare to parachute into the ocean. As the orbiter descended, the commander would set its controls to autopilot. The astronaut sitting closest to the outer hatch, on the middeck below, would remove a curved metal housing from the ceiling and install it beside the hatch. Carrying bulky, 70-pound backpacks, the rest of the crew would climb out of their seats and make their way to the hatch, where they’d hook harnesses worn over their spacesuits to lanyards inside the housing. The jump master, the astronaut sitting next to…

By the 10 a.m. opening ceremonies welcoming fans to the National Championship Air Races, one class of racers is already done for the day. The biplanes fly in the calm air of morning. They are kite-like—with a large wing area and relatively small mass—and have a more intimate relationship with the wind than airplanes racing in other classes. Every September—except for this strange, COVID-canceled year—the air races, held just up the highway from the casinos in Reno, Nevada, create a brightly lit carnival town, populated by intense pilots, rowdy fans, inventive designers, and devoted ground crews. Beyond the brawny 500-mph warbirds of the Unlimited Class, the biplanes share a hangar with the sleek Formula Ones. “I like to call it the Anonymous Class,” says 2016 biplane national champion Jeff Rose.…

Since the first three people—two Russians and one American—boarded the International Space Station in November 2000, the orbiting lab has grown to the size of a small house, and more than 240 people from 19 countries have visited or lived there, some for as long as a year. In the past 20 years, the station has never been empty and has continuously hosted at least three people. To mark the 20th anniversary, we’ve talked to some of the people who’ve spent the most time on the station, collected their stories, and rounded up the most memorable photos of their unique home in space. Special Edition 75th Anniversary of World War II Victory A 96-page edition marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II features stunning photos of…

On July 1, eight Air Force KC-46A refueling tankers, the newest in service, participated in a grand old tradition. At McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, they lined up nose-to-tail for an “elephant walk.” The eight Pegasus tankers (seven of which are pictured, left) and two KC-135s (the tail of one is photobombing the Pegasus lineup) undertook the exercise to test aircrews and maintenance personnel on their ability to rapidly generate multiple sorties during a weather evacuation exercise. Although the base can house up to 12 aircraft in hangars during harsh weather, the Air Force policy is to get as many of the mission-capable airplanes as possible away from severe weather. “Elephant walk” is a term that traces its origins to World War II, when the Army Air Forces…

If you were near Lake Champlain on the morning of June 12, you would have seen a remarkable sight in the sky: a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter with an odd-looking aircraft dangling from its underside. The aircraft, code-named Alia, is the experimental prototype for an electric vehicle being developed by the Vermont-based startup, Beta Technologies. The helicopter ferried Alia to Plattsburgh International Airport, where it will undergo months of testing by Beta Technologies before the company seeks to get it certified by the FAA.…

The Italian Civil Aviation Authority has issued a new Covid-19 rule banning the use of overhead bins for carry-on items aboard aircraft. The ban was put in place to limit crowding among passengers as they store and retrieve their luggage. If an item isn’t small enough to fit beneath a seat, it won’t be allowed onboard. While fliers will undoubtedly grouse at the inconvenience, the decision has garnered approval from an Italian consumer association: “In this area, the Italians are among the most unruly travelers in Europe, causing delays and queues which today would fuel the risk of contagion.”…

Patti Johnson didn’t set out to fly through anyone’s glass ceiling, but she and her sister grew up loving airplanes after their pilot dad took them to the airport as children. On her first trip to Reno in the 1970s, she was impressed by Formula One racer Judy Wagner and U.S. Aerobatic Team member Carolyn Salsbury. “You know how a seed gets planted,” she says. Johnson set out to master both racing and aerobatics. She earned a place on the U.S. aerobatic team in 1980 and ’82 and started racing biplanes in 1992. “Aerobatics helps with racing,” she says. “It’s a confidence thing. You have to know that no matter what happens, you’ll be able to handle it.” In 1993, she became the first woman to win a Reno class…

The task would require nothing short of a miracle. Back in March, a reader asked if we’d ever thought about trying to find Charles Lindbergh’s logbook, which was taken from the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927 after he landed at Le Bourget airfield upon completing his solo, nonstop, transatlantic flight. We should start by compiling a list of everyone who was there—more than 150,000 people—and then contact their families to see if the logbook might be squirreled away in an attic somewhere. The crowds went wild with joy that day, newspapers reported at the time, rushing Lindbergh and his airplane. “Four days later I still retain bruises,” wrote a New York Times reporter. “The reporters assigned to cover Captain Lindbergh’s arrival will not forget that night,” he continued. “And…