All Stories

Fifty years after his death, and nearly 100 since he was thrust into the global spotlight, Charles Lindbergh’s legacy remains complicated.

The mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance somewhere over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937 during her around-the-world flight attempt captured American imagination. Interest persists to the present day.  

If you were curating a mixtape that might be heard by aliens billions of years from now, but definitely would be seen by your fellow Earthlings, what would you put on it? Learn about the Voyager Golden Record on the latest AirSpace.

Not far away is the wreckage of his U.S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter, near the barrier islands known as the Outer Banks, my uncle Roy Len Lee’s remains lie at the bottom of the sea. He was one of thousands of Americans who left their families to fight for their country and perished in training.

Scientists and engineers are trying to use what they do know to create bat-inspired flying machines, but traits like bats' self-cambering stretchy wing skin, skeletal muscles and tiny hair sensors are proving difficult to replicate. 

The Moon is pockmarked with impact craters. Everywhere you look, you can see a crater. On Earth, however, impact craters are few and far between, with barely any visible. Why do we see so many craters on the Moon but so few on Earth?

During ongoing renovations to reimagine the Museum's galleries and entryways, the large sculpture Ad Astra was deinstalled and treated by the conservation team. After careful documentation and treatment, the sculpture was reinstalled in front of the new awning at the north entrance on the National Mall.

There are a lot of different aircraft that fight wildfires, but today we're taking about a truly unique, purpose-built firefighting airplane: the Super Scooper. This plane skims the surface of a body of water, collects a shocking amount through tiny scoop ports, flies off, and dumps it on a wildfire. We talk to a pilot about what it's like to fly one.

Over the years the Museum's Conservation Unit has received grant funding from the National Collections Program to help care for our most vulnerable artifacts. These projects showcase the artistry and engineering innovations of early aviation while addressing unique treatment challenges posed by fragile materials and past repairs.

Beginning in the late 1920s, spaceflight enthusiasts banded together into groups to advance their cause. Known as “rocket societies,” these groups of enthusiasts especially flourished in the Soviet Union, Germany, and the United States.