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Operation SKYBURNER
Fifty-two years ago this month, a United States Navy YF4H-1 Phantom II set a world absolute speed record of 1,606.342 mph. Piloting the aircraft for this record flight was United States Marine Corps...
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First South Pole Over-Flight
Eighty-four years ago this week, a four-man crew became the first Antarctic explorers to fly over the Earth’s South Pole. The aircraft used to make the historic flight was a Ford Trimotor. While...
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Zoom Flight
Fifty years ago this week, USAF Major Robert W. Smith zoomed the rocket-powered Lockheed NF-104A to an unofficial record altitude of 120,800 feet. This mark still stands as the highest altitude ever...
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Trouble in the Thin Air
Sixty years ago this week, USAF Major Charles E. Yeager set an unofficial world speed record of 1,650 mph (Mach 2.44) in the Bell X-1A flight research aircraft. In the process, Yeager nearly lost his...
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In the Beginning
One-hundred and ten years ago today, the Wright Flyer became the first aircraft in history to achieve powered flight. The site of this historic event was Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North...
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Saving Apollo
Forty-five years ago this month, three American astronauts became the first men to orbit the Earth’s Moon during the flight of Apollo 8. The flight also marked the first manned flight of the mighty...
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14 Days in a Phone Booth
Forty-eight years ago this month, Gemini 7 set a new record for long-duration manned spaceflight. The official lift-off-to-splashdown flight duration was 330 hours, 35 minutes and 1 second. Project...
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Supersonic Manta Ray Debut
Sixty-three years ago this month, the USN/Douglas XF4D-1 Skyray fighter flew for the first time at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Douglas test pilot Robert O. Rahn was at the controls of the...
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Bridging the Booster Gap
Fifty-years ago this month, NASA successfully launched the first Saturn I Block II heavy-lift launch vehicle. Known as Saturn-Apollo No. 5 (SA-5), the mission featured the largest mass ever orbited...
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Surveyor 7
Forty-six years ago this month, the Surveyor 7 spacecraft soft-landed in the lunar highlands near the Crater Tycho. It was the fifth and final Surveyor vehicle to successfully perform an autonomous...
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