All Stories

Sleeping in space goes back almost as far as there have been people in space (specifically, a cosmonaut who caught some shuteye in 1961). Astronauts have slept in capsules, shuttles, space stations, and even on the Moon. Sleep is an important part of an astronaut’s health, particularly for longer duration missions. But from noisy crewmates to spaceship sounds and even the sheer excitement of it all, sleeping in space hasn’t always been easy. To find out what it’s really like we speak with former astronaut Mike Massimino who relates his shuttle sleeping experience to a big slumber party.  We’re catching Zs in zero-G, today on AirSpace.

Our Museum recently acquired a first-generation HawkEye 360 Pathfinder satellite. The three Pathfinders and follow-on satellites form the first commercial satellite constellation ever to detect, characterize, and geolocate a broad range of radio frequency signals from transmitters on the ground and sea.

A 1/16 scale model of a Benoist XIV Airboat (Benoist No. 43) recently underwent conservation treatment in preparation for its display in the reimagined America by Air gallery. Learn about how it was treated and discover the story behind the model and the actual aircraft.

Read a first-hand account of what it was like to fly aboard a Boeing 247 in 1934.

In 1971 an Apollo 14 astronaut took about 500 tree seeds into orbit around the Moon. When he got back, those seeds were distributed, germinated, and planted all around the United States. And then… they were mostly forgotten about, even by NASA. That is, until the mid-1990s when a teacher at a Girl Scout camp in Indiana wondered what was up with this “Moon Tree” at her local camp. On this episode, we speak with the NASA planetary scientist who received her question, and as a result, started a database to track down the Moon Tree locations. Today, there are 67 known, living, first generation Moon Trees all over the United States – maybe even in your town!

In 1929, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) started passenger service between New York and Los Angeles using a combination of trains and planes.

Curator Jennier Levasseur explores how astronauts have looked down at Earth during missions ranging from Apollo to the International Space Station expeditions.

Skywriting is something you might witness at the beach, or a sporting event, or an outdoor concert. A popular form of aerial advertising and even the occasional marriage proposal, skywritten messages can have a BIG impact (and with letters approximately 1500 feet tall… we mean that quite literally).  But maybe you didn’t know that it originated with the military and dates wayyy back to the early days of aviation in 1910. This episode will be your exhaustive look into everything you’d want to know about skywriting – how it works, who does it, the most popular examples, and even its code of conduct. And to learn all about it, we speak to a skywriting pilot whose family has been in the business since nearly the beginning.

Learn about three ways that satellites have led to a better understanding of how we affect our environment.

Over time, Earth was became one connected planet—one global neighborhood.