Showing 1 - 10 of 1795

The words "AirSpace, a podcast" appear in bold pink and white letters against a purple background.

July 09, 2025

AirSpace Revisited: Dancing on the Ceiling

Story | AirSpace Podcast

Before more Museum galleries open, we're revisiting how we hang really, really big, priceless artifacts from the ceiling in the museum.

Profile view of SpaceShipOne against black background.

July 02, 2025

Who Gets to Send People (and Spacecraft) to Space?

Story

However, every historic milestone was once highly debated. Many of these debates continue today.

A travel poster that reads "Relax on Kepler-16b, the land of two suns, where your shadow always has company." The image shows a humanoid figure on a rocky surface under two bright orbs.

July 01, 2025

Could We Live on Other Planets in the Future?

Story

Could humans one day live on other planets? Many efforts are underway to answer that question.

Various people, mostly young, doing different activities inside a large hangar. A space shuttle can be seen in the background and spacesuits are set up in the foreground.

June 30, 2025

Sleepaway Camp, But Make It Space

Story

Space Camp opened at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in the summer of 1982, as a weeklong sleepaway camp for middle school students.

A watch photographed against a dark surface.

June 26, 2025

Space Time Technology

Story

In the era of human spaceflight, the community of amateur horologists found a story ripe for their attention: the selection of the Omega Speedmaster Professional as the chronograph (a watch with stopwatch and other functions) certified by NASA for use on spaceflights, both inside and outside the spacecraft.

Purple and pink logo of AirSpace

June 26, 2025

AirSpace Book Club

Story | AirSpace Podcast

In this inaugural Book Club episode, AirSpace hosts discuss The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy by Dr. Moiya McTier. Read along in a non-fiction romp through the Milky Way's life (and future death) told from its perspective. 

A large, clear, rectangle-shape display case is filled with numerous artifacts, including space-theme games, toys, T-shirts, and license plates. In front of the case is a panel printed with captions, including this question: Why go to space? Digital renderings of a woman, child, and man are seen looking at and pointing to the display case.

June 24, 2025

Futures in Space

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

A new national Air and Space Museum gallery explores the different ways humans could build a presence in outer space.

A photo montage shows a historical black-and-white astronomical photographic plate from 1923 showing the spiral-armed Andromeda Galaxy (M31) superimposed with portraits of two male astronomers.

June 24, 2025

How Big is the Universe?

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

In 1920, Astronomers Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley debated at the Smithsonian whether Andromeda was a separate galaxy.

Photographed against a dark blue background is a studio image of a set of cream-colored ceramic dishware bearing a pattern of star-shapes in blue, yellow, and green. There are several pieces, including a platter, a gravy boat with a ladle, a creamer and sugar bowl, a teacup and saucer, and one place setting: dinner and salad plates, and a soup bowl.

June 24, 2025

This Space Age Tableware is Now a Museum Collectible

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

Pulling back the curtain on artifacts in storage. 

A close-up, head-on view of the nose and cockpit section of a gray U.S. Air Force KC-10 Extender aircraft parked in an aircraft boneyard, with mountains in the distant background.

June 24, 2025

Air Crews Remember the Reliable KC-10 with Affection

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

After 44 years of excellence as a tanker, the U.S. Air Force retires the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender.