All Stories

Scientists believe our planet has a metallic inner core, but we can’t exactly crack it open and check. Instead, NASA is sending a mission to an asteroid named Psyche, which appears to be a nickel-iron planetary core a lot like the one at the center of the Earth.

In this special episode recorded at SXSW, Emily, Matt, and Nick recount stories of failure and how they’ve inspired a whole lot of success in science and space exploration

As you may have heard, astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain were scheduled to perform a spacewalk today. AirSpace hosts Emily, Matt, and Nick break down why this changed. 

National Air and Space Museum director reflects on the trailblazing women in aviation and space that inspire her.

In this guest blog post, Chesley Bonestell expert Melvin Schuetz reflects on the Bonestell artwork "A Fog-Filled Canal on Mars."

What is a hybrid rocket motor? What advantages does it have over conventional liquid and solid propellant rocket motors? These questions point to an exciting breakthrough that occurred on December 13, 2018, when Virgin Galactic successfully launched VSS Unity on its first suborbital flight.

As we prepare to ring in a new year, let’s revisit some of our favorite stories of 2018: stories that let you look closer at our collections, dive into the history of women in space and aviation, and explore our Museum in DC from your own home.

Capt. James A Lovell, Apollo 8 astronaut, shares his memories of that historic mission at our Spirit of Apollo, 50th anniversary celebration.

The moment of humankind's first voyage to the Moon and back was captured in a series of photos taken by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observing Station in Maui, Hawaii. They show the trans-lunar injection rocket burn which sent Apollo 8 hurtling out of Earth orbit toward the Moon on December 21, 1968–perhaps the only such images that exist.

Fifty years ago, humans orbited the Moon for the first time. On Christmas Eve, the astronauts addressed the nation on a live television broadcast to Earth.