Past

How Things Fly explains the basic principles that allow aircraft and spacecraft to fly. The gallery is open Saturdays and Sundays.

Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing is back on display for the first time in 13 years.

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while their colleague Michael Collins orbited overhead. This case, installed for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, contains artifacts from that historic journey

Immerse yourself in “The Barmecide Feast,” a fully realized, full-scale reflection of the iconic, neo-classical hotel room from the penultimate scene of Stanley Kubrick’s and Arthur C. Clarke’s landmark film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Join the Smithsonian Institution as we relive the greatest adventure of all time. Destination Moon will commemorate the achievements of the early space program in a new, state-of-the-art traveling exhibition and a permanent gallery at the Museum in Washington, DC.

Artistic expression during the war contributed to this transformation. Before World War I, war art largely depicted heroic military leaders and romanticized battles, done long after the fact, far from the battlefield. The First World War marked a turning point with the appearance of artwork intended to capture the moment in a realistic way, by first-hand participants. This exhibition examines this form of artistic expression from two complementary perspectives: one, professional artists who were recruited by the U.S. Army; the other, soldiers who created artwork. Together they shed light on World War I in a compelling and very human way.

Dramatic landscapes of the Moon captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). 

Art of the Airport Tower explores contemporary and historic air traffic control towers in the United States and around the world.

Celebrate the power of innovation and learn what it takes to make impossible dreams take flight.

Extra-vehicular activity, or EVA—working outside a spacecraft—changed the nature of human spaceflight. This exhibition presents art, photography, artifacts, and personal accounts to explore EVA and contribute to its ongoing story.

In the early days of flight, getting to Hawaii, one of the most remote places on Earth, was a challenge. Hawaii by Air recounts how things have changed since then.

This temporary exhibition features the pressurized balloon gondola in which Felix Baumgartner ascended to the edge of space on October 14, 2012 and a pressure suit he wore on a flight on July 25.