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Humankind has long aspired to belong to the heavens, after having roamed the land and the seas as part of their usual existence. Indeed, the possibility of ruling the sky has always captured the imagination of cultures throughout history. In this issue, we aim to examine the varied "aspirations of flight" that populate our world today. At the same time, we hope to inhere a more contested sense of the term, by contemplating three cognate concepts that can help to nuance how aspirations take flight. These are namely grandeur, competition and nostalgia. As an endeavour to challenge gravity and the impossible, flight is a special act already predisposed to promoting itself and sketching positive visions for the future, but it also carries with it its own particular baggage and politics.