A beautifully restored P-51 Mustang sits along the flight line. // Credit: David J. Eicher
On Friday, July 24, 2015, Senior Editor Michael Bakich and I traveled to the world’s greatest airshow, EAA Airventure Oshkosh, to scope out the events being held by NASA and other cool things. Each year, more than 10,000 pilots flock to Oshkosh, some 100 miles north of
Astronomy’s headquarters, to show their planes and celebrate flight. And spaceflight is always a part of the fun.
On Friday, NASA held a forum discussing increasing opportunities for women in aerospace, with Susan Baggerman, Kathryn Crowe, and Sandra Magnus from NASA, Janica Cheney from Orbital ATK, and Iylene Patino and Astronaut Abby from Boeing. They described quite a bit of aeronautical history as well as highlighting upcoming events in the space program.
NASA also held a panel updating Airventure attendees about new results from the Kepler Space Telescope. The space agency also delivered an overview of the galaxy and the nearest stars around us to many who are not as deeply involved with the subjects as the typical
Astronomy reader.
Michael and I enjoyed ourselves as always and found the 85° F warmth nice as it came with some hazy clouds and a sometimes strong breeze. We walked the grounds, checking out the favorite World War II warbirds — always fun — and more modern behemoths such as a B-52 bomber, “Fifi,” the only B-29 that still flies, and very modern warplanes such as an F-22 Raptor and an F-35 Lightning II.
It was enormous fun, and I suggest that if you’re in the Wisconsin area next summer, you drop by the airshow. There’s simply nothing else like it on Earth.
For all images from the trip, visit the
Online Reader Gallery.
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