The SR-71 Blackbird is the arguably the most popular and easily recognizable airframe ever used by the U.S. Air Force. It maintains the speed record it set back in 1976 (even with a broken engine). The Blackbird’s missile evasion technique is legen…
John Bennett Herrington was born on September 14, 1958 in Wetumka, Oklahoma, into the Chickasaw Nation. As a child, he moved to Colorado, Wyoming, and eventually Texas where he graduated…
If you think it’s hard getting tickets to a summer blockbuster on opening night, try getting into Kennedy Space Center these days to see a Space Shuttle launch.
After two and a half years of anticipation, people around the world want to …
On August 30, 1991, Dawn Elaine Sanchez left the Four Seasons Motor Lodge in Los Altos, California with her boyfriend, Bernardo Bass. It was the last time anyone (except her…
Recently, NASA made the news when its engineers managed to cobble together a new WB-57 Canberra out of parts from multiple other planes. This is a particularly notable achievement as …
The SR-71 Blackbird was the fastest military jet that has ever taken to the skies. But there was a plane that not only went twice as fast, but it also went much higher.
That speedy plane was the North American X-15.
The X-15 was on…
On July 20, 1969, the United States won the space race. America had put two astronauts on the moon, secured the ultimate high ground, and put an end to decades of back and forth victories won by American and Soviet scientists. While many Americans s…
Picture this: you’re gearing up for a trip to space. You’ll be gone roughly six months, which means you’ll need a cool 180 pairs of underwear or so packed in…
The Cold War was a great time for NASA and the U.S. Air Force. It seemed like they were able to do pretty much whatever they wanted in the interest of just seeing if they could do it. But the X-15 was much more than just a power play. Even though th…
In 1967, the Space Race was in full swing. The Soviet Union had made a number of historic firsts, but the United States was racing to catch up while making…