Is the top secret plane programme set to rise again?

Shortly after World War II, it became apparent that propellers were yesterday’s technology and that the future lay in the jet engine and the rocket. They opened up a world of speed that was unimaginable just a decade before but they also opened up a Pandora’s Box of new problems and perils. The ‘X’ craft programme was developed to solve these problems.

Each ‘X’ craft was a test bed for new technologies, which have led to safer air travel; faster and more manoeuvrable combat aircraft; and helped put man on the Moon.

Discovery: The birth of a legend

In which we take a look at Discovery's formative years when she looked more Airfix kit than spacecraft

This week the Space Shuttle Discovery is set to make its finally flight – after which it will be decommissioned, sent to a museum and it will spend the rest of its days as a monument to human endeavour and achievement and to dreams fulfilled and to dreams broken. I shall spend this week remembering the achievements of this iconic vehicle.

Day One – Early memories and some of Discovery's baby photos

I was just five years old when the Space Shuttle Columbia – the first of Nasa’s next generation of manned-spacecraft – pushed through the clouds and punched its way into the heavens.