Aside from the aerial displays, there are also plenty of side shows including the expected launch of the politically-fuelled Airbus A400M military transport, the return to the skies of the world's largest plane and a possible announcement of the future of Concorde.
The most politically controversial part of the plan was the proposal to make American astronauts dependent on pricey Russian launch vehicles to get to the international space station, at least until U.S. entrepreneurs could come up with a low-cost alternative means of transit.