Stories of daring, stories of technological feats, stories of prevailing against the odds ... these are the stories we tell at the National Air and Space Museum. Dive in to the stories below to discover, learn, and be inspired. 

Showing 1211 - 1220 of 1759

American Balloon Service Flyer

March 24, 2016

A Message to You from Uncle Sam’s First Propaganda Balloon

Story | From the Archives

Our Archives houses the Technical Reference Files, an important collection of aeronautical and astronautical topics comprised of 1,920 cubic feet of documents, photographs, and ephemera. This important resource is housed in vertical files and is an organic, growing collection to which material is added constantly. Recently, we came across a remarkable document in the Tech Files of the long fight against tuberculosis—shared with you today in recognition of World Tuberculosis Day.

Vera Rubin at the Flagstaff Telescope

March 23, 2016

Women Who Changed the Universe and How We Portray Them

Story

One of the many threads in our Explore the Universe gallery is the changing role of women in astronomy over the past two centuries. In the present gallery, opened in September 2001, we examine how the role of women as astronomers has changed over time from assisting family members to leaders of research teams.

Letter From NASA

March 17, 2016

NASA’s Early Stand on Women Astronauts: “No Present Plans to Include Women on Space Flights”

Story | From the Archives

In 1962, young Linda Halpern decided to fulfill a school assignment by inquiring about how she could pursue a dream. Required to write a letter for a grade-school class, Ms. Halpern addressed hers to President John F. Kennedy, asking what she would need to do to become an astronaut.

Goddard 1926 Rocket

March 16, 2016

Robert Goddard and the First Liquid-Propellant Rocket

Story

On March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) launched the world’s first liquid-propellant rocket. His rickety contraption smashed on impact. Goddard, his wife Esther, and a couple of assistants from Clark University, where he was a physics professor, were the only witnesses.

Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard

March 14, 2016

Celebrating the Centennial of Coast Guard Aviation with the Seaguard

Story

Unless you live in a coastal area, or on one of the nation’s waterways, the U.S. Coast Guard is usually out of sight, out of mind, unless something very wrong happens. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that they are overlooked in their significance to our national welfare and security as well as in terms of their own historical legacy and contributions to aerospace.

Margaret Hamilton

March 11, 2016

The "Rope Mother" Margaret Hamilton

Story

A few years after graduating, Margaret Hamilton soon found herself in charge of software development and production for the Apollo missions to the Moon at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. 

Surveyor III Precision Landing

March 09, 2016

How We Saw the Moon: Top Ten Apollo Images

Story

On February 26, 2016, we opened our latest exhibition of imagery, A New Moon Rises, in our Art Gallery.

Venus Impact Crater Ejecta

March 07, 2016

Observing the Surface of Venus with the Arecibo Telescope

Story

This past summer I had the opportunity to operate the world’s largest single-dish telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Picture of Apollo 11 Command module Columbia on a transportation rig. Module is lit from above and hatch is facing the camera.

March 03, 2016

Investigating the Writing on Columbia’s Walls

Story

I recently shared that we uncovered handwritten notes and markings inside the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia—the spacecraft that carried astronauts Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin into lunar orbit and home on their historic voyage of July 1969. As part of our collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Digitization Program Office to create a detailed 3D model of the spacecraft, we had access to previously inaccessible areas for the first time in many years. We found notes written on a number of locker doors and even a small calendar used to check off days of the mission. We did our best to imagine the circumstances surrounding the creation of these markings. In the weeks that have passed, I have been working with an extraordinary team of experts to see what we can learn about each of the markings we documented, especially the more technical numerical entries. Today, we are posting the Apollo Flight Journal (AFJ) website, a detailed account of all the information we’ve gathered so far.

Ruth Law in Military Uniform

March 02, 2016

Ruth Law’s World War I Liberty Bonds Leaflet

Story | Under the Radar

No one could say Ruth Law was a novice. She had been flying since 1912. She was the first woman to fly at night, in a biplane purchased from Orville Wright.