• Electron beam freeform fabrication process.

    From Nothing, Something: One Layer at a Time

    09.23.09 - A manufacturing process using electron beams works sort of like a Star Trek replicator and could mean big cost and environmental benefits for aviation.

  • X-48C scale model in Langley Full Scale Tunnel

    Test of X-48C is Historic Wind Tunnel's Swan Song

    09.17.09 - A historic NASA wind tunnel is pressed into service one last time to help test the prototype of a new, more fuel-efficient, quieter aircraft design.

  • The X-15 research aircraft on its first powered flight on Sept. 17, 1959.

    The X-15, the Pilot and the Space Shuttle

    09.15.09 - Fifty years later, X-15 test pilot and former space shuttle commander Joe Engle recalls the highs and lows of this unique, high-speed research aircraft.

  • Greg (l) and Reid (r) standing in front of the NASA Headquarters building.

    My Summer at NASA

    09.11.09 - NASA aeronautics scholarship recipients spent the summer working at NASA and tell us what it was like.

  • Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE)

    NASA Launches New Technology: An Inflatable Heat Shield

    08.17.09 - A successful NASA flight test Monday demonstrated how a spacecraft returning to Earth can use an inflatable heat shield to slow and protect itself as it enters the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

  • NASA inflatable exhibits at EAA AirVenture 2009

    EAA AirVenture: An Aviator's Dream World

    07.27.09 - Aviation enthusiasts seek out certain destinations. For a week every summer a small airfield in central Wisconsin is an aviator's dream world.

  • A BWB scale model in a wind tunnel.

    Shhhh! Keep It Down, Please

    07.07.09 - New technologies and aircraft designs could help lower the volume around busy airports.

  • Airplanes on the runway at the Paris Air Show.

    Look, Up in the Sky

    07.07.09 - Air shows are great places to see aircraft, but they're also an opportunity to learn about NASA's work to improve aviation efficiency and safety.

  • Comedian Mark Malkoff

    NASA Engineer Helps Comedian Tackle Fear of Flying

    06.26.09 - What would possess anyone to live on an airplane for a month? NASA engineer Anna McGowan visits comedian Mark Malkoff between flights.

  • A NASA F-18 dives toward a targeted area of Edwards AFB during a SonicBOBS calibration flight.

    Supersonic Diving: Quieting the Boom

    06.18.09 - Sonic booms are a part of life at Edwards Air Force Base and in surrounding communities, so booms generated on June 11 by two NASA Dryden Flight Research Center F/A-18s went relatively unnoticed.