All Stories

While the Discovery is hard to miss at the Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, the little-known details help tell the orbiter’s unique and important history.  

The international community has contributed more to the exploration of space and our understanding of the universe than you might think. From India to Israel, lots of countries are sending missions to Mars, landing on comets, and observing Earth from orbit.

The Viking 1 lander, which launched on a 10-month journey to Mars in August of 1975, paved the way for the future of scientific inquiry in space. Here's a closer look at how the lander worked. 

During the conservation of the Museum's Ranger 7 spacecraft, our conservator and space history curator uncovered some unexpected details about the object. 

NASA launched TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, on April 18, 2018, continuing our search for planets outside of our solar system (aka exoplanets). 

Shaq does shark week. Ronda Rousey against a bull shark. Bear Grylls faces off with … yes … a shark. Shark Week is full of celebrities having close encounters with one of the ocean’s greatest predators, but did you know early astronauts were also prepared for their own tussle with the fearsome fish?

On July 20, 1969, a whole nation tuned in to see astronaut Neil Armstrong take one small step on the surface of the Moon, ushering in a new era of space exploration. But how did Armstrong and the Apollo 11 astronauts get to the Moon in the first place?

Is the American flag backwards on the side of Space Shuttle Discovery? No, the “backwards” flag is actually part of the US Flag Code.

Did we just find life on Mars? No. But NASA did announce two exciting new discoveries on the Red Planet—just before a Martian dust storm engulfed the planet. 

Other planets in our solar system experience seasons, too. On Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, seasons last an average of 40 years, complete with nitrogen snow. Here’s how Triton’s summer solstice compares to Earth’s.