Collections

The National Air and Space Museum’s aerial cameras have photographed or filmed birds, cold war secrets, the atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll, Indian ruins in the American Southwest, and scenes from Top Gun and The Great Waldo Pepper.

Aircraft of the National Air and Space Museum.

On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Lunar Module Eagle and became the first humans to step foot on the lunar surface while astronaut Michael Collins orbited above inside the Command Module, Columbia.

From the very early days—when World War I pilots would take photos of the ground below through a window in their aircraft floors—to today’s more high-tech equipment, aerial photography has been an important component of intelligence gathering.

Awards, medals, pins, and accessories from the Museum's collections.

Explore satellites used for communications, monitoring the weather, and exploring the Earth.

In March 1962, Administrator of NASA James Webb suggested that artists be enlisted to document the historic effort to send the first human beings to the Moon.

Posters in the collection are significant both for their esthetic value and because they are a unique representation of the cultural, commercial and military history of aviation during a significant period of its technological and social development.

The functions of guidance, navigation, and control are vital to all forms of air and space flight. The Space History collections in this area attempt to reflect that significance and illustrate the breadth of the topic.

The Human Spaceflight collection spans decades of achievements from the first U.S. manned Mercury missions through Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station.

The success of aviation has often been due to technologies that are often invisible to the casual observer. Aircraft instruments and aviation electronics (avionics) have played crucial roles in the safety, reliability, and efficiency of flight.

Spaceflight and the use of rockets and missiles is not a uniquely American concept. This collection explores international innovations in spaceflight.

A selection of military uniforms and personal equipment from World War I to the Cold War, including items worn by General William Mitchell, General Henry "Hap" Arnold, and U-2 pilot Commander William Ecker.

During the Cold Wars, the United States and USSR looked toward space for ways to spy on one another for the purposes of maintaining National Security and technological superiority.

On June 10, 1943, the patent for the ballpoint pen was filed. To celebrate National Ballpoint Pen Day (#BallpointPenDay), we've pulled together writing implements from across our collection. 

The propulsion collection includes reciprocating and rotary internal combustion and gas turbine engines, propellers, and the components and support technologies, or accessories, that deliver the needed air, water, fuel, and oil to an engine.

Among this collection's highlights are: the world’s best collection of artifacts from American rocket pioneer Robert Goddard, an extensive collection of German World War II missile and rocket artifacts, a large number of American Cold War missiles and launch vehicles, and rocket engines from small thrusters to a gigantic F-1 motor from the Saturn V Moon rocket.

Pioneer aviators became household names and their flights catapulted them into fame and celebrity. The objects of popular culture in the collection display everything from ashtrays to wristwatches that reflect the public fascination with aviation.

The Social and Cultural Dimensions of Spaceflight Collection includes over 4500 individual pieces of space memorabilia and space science fiction objects, including toys and games, clothing and stamps, medals and awards, and buttons and pins.

Space sciences collection includes objects ranging from engineering models, components, and prototypes to mockups representing the full range of scientific activities performed on space vehicles, including both suborbital and orbital satellites.

Enormous crowds gathered in Paris to watch one balloon after another rise above the city rooftops, carrying the first human beings into the air in the closing months of 1783. Collection celebrating the invention and early history of the balloon.

The Museum’s collection of 30 World War II-era American military aircraft ranges from propeller-driven trainers, fighters, flying boats, and bombers to the nation’s first generation of jet-powered fighters to take to the air.