Aviation & Space Exploration Story Briefs

From ancient to modern times, people have studied "the heavens" and wondered "what's out there?" Technology helps us to take a closer look. Meet the pioneers of space and aviation in this collection of stories.

Returning to the Earth's atmosphere, from a journey to space, astronauts aboard the orbiter see what they call a "light show." What causes that phenom...

The F-1 engine, five of which lifted the Saturn V rocket from Apollo 11's launch pad, had a complex ignition sequence which will be described here.

What is the weight of a space shuttle orbiter? What is its length? What is the combined number of miles flown by the shuttle fleet? The answers may su...

On the 4th of July, 2005, NASA’s “Deep Impact” flyby spacecraft launched its impactor for a dramatic encounter with a comet known as...

What is a FLYBY spacecraft and how long have they been a part of NASA's space-exploration program? This image depicts the FLYBY spacecraft developed t...

Francis Gary Powers, flying military aircraft for his country, was a "Top Gun" by 1955.

This image, as described by NASA, depicts “M16: Pillars of Creation.”NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website tells us more about...

Newton discovered the concept of gravity, but no one before Einstein figured out what caused gravity.

The Hubble Space Telescope took this stunning image - click on it to appreciate its true beauty - which NASA describes as “Painting with oxygen ...

Hermann Oberth, one of the world's three "Fathers of Rocketry and Astronautics," became interested in his life's work when, at age 14, he read Jules V...

Johannes Hevelius was an astronomer who, for years, studied the sky without the benefit of a telescope. Born in 1611, in the town of Danzig—then...

See the instrument - an azimuthal quadrant - which Johannes Hevelius used to study the heavens ... and get accurate readings ... with the naked eye. ...

Show tooltips