Airplanes, Aircraft & Spacecraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air craft whose lift is generated not by wing motion relative to the aircraft, but by forward motion through the air. The term is used to distinguish from rotary-wing aircraft or ornithopters, where the movement of the wing surfaces relative to the aircraft generates lift. The more commonly used term is "airplane", (in the US and Canada), or "aeroplane" (in Ireland and Commonwealth nations excluding Canada), which refers to any fixed wing aircraft powered by propellers or jet engines. Fixed-wing aircraft may be manned or not; they may be large or tiny; every fixed-wing aircraft is open to being scale modeled by perhaps a smaller or larger mimic fixed wing aircraft.

An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly through the Earth's atmosphere or through any other atmosphere. Most rocket vehicles are not aircraft because they are not supported by the surrounding air. All the human activity which surrounds aircraft is called aviation.

A spacecraft is a vehicle or device designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters outer space but then returns to the planetary surface (such as Earth) without making a complete orbit. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflights carry people on board as crew or passengers. Spacecraft used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically. Robotic spacecraft that leave the vicinity of the planetary body are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around the planetary body are artificial satellites. Starships, which are built for interstellar travel, are so far a theoretical concept only. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and space tourism.

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34 Items found Print
Active Filters: Hardcover
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
All About Rockets and Jets
All About Books #13
by Fletcher Pratt
2nd edition from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
Americans Into Orbit
Landmark #101
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Beechcraft: Pursuit of Perfection
by Edward H. Phillips
from Flying Books
for Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
British and European Combat Aircraft
Combat Aircraft Library
by Paul A. Jackson
from Crescent Books
for Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Charles Lindbergh
A Discovery Book
by David R. Collins
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Fighting the Flying Circus
by Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker
1965 Edition from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Flying Aces of World War I
World Landmark #60
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Flying Combat Aircraft of the USAAF-USAF
by Robin Higham and Abigail Siddall, editors
from Iowa State University Press
for Adult
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Flying Squadrons
by S. Paul Johnston
1st edition from Duell, Sloan and Pearce
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Flying the Old Planes
by Frank Tallman, foreword by Ernest Gunn
from Doubleday & Company
for Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Flying Tigers
Landmark #105
by John Toland
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Golden Book of Space Exploration
by Dinah L. Moche
from Golden Books
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
High Flew the Falcons
by Herbert Molloy Mason, Jr.
1st edition from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Hostile Skies
by James J. Hudson
1st edition from Syracuse University Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
If You Decide to Go to the Moon
by Faith McNulty
from Scholastic Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
Kingfisher Flight
by Ian Graham
from Kingfisher
for 3rd-6th grade
in Flight & Aerodynamics (Location: SCI-PHYFA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Making of a Pilot
by Ed Richter
from Westminster Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Milestones of Aviation
by John T. Greenwood, editor
Beaux Arts Edition from Beaux Arts Editions
for Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
Mustang at War
by Roger A. Freeman
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Aircraft 1903-14
by Kenneth Munson, illustrated by John W. Wood
from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Planes
Usborne Beginners
by Fiona Patchett
from Usborne
for 1st-2nd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
Red Baron
by Richard A. Boning, illustrated by Harry Schaare
from Dexter & Westbrook
for 3rd-6th grade
in World War I (1914-1919) (Location: HISA-20WW1)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Shine-A-Light: On the Space Station
Shine-A-Light
by Carron Brown and Illustrated by Bee Johnson
from Kane Miller
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Astronomy (Space) (Location: SCI-AST)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Thaddeus Lowe: America's One-Man Air Corps
by Mary Hoehling
from Kingston House
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Timechart History of Aviation
from Lowe & B. Hould Publishers
for 6th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Usborne Big Book of Rockets and Spacecraft
from Usborne
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$6.30 (1 in stock)
Walk in Space: The Story of Project Gemini
Landmark #117
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
We Were There at the First Airplane Flight
We Were There #28
by Felix Sutton, illustrated by Lazlo Matulay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
Why Satellites Stay in Orbit
by Sune Engelbrektson, illustrated by Lee Ames
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wings of Mystery
by Dale M. Titler
for 4th-8th grade
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
Wright Brothers
Landmark #10
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Wright Brothers
by David McCullough
First American Condition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00 (2 in stock)