All Stories

Dr. Guy Bluford launched on the STS-8 mission on August 30, 1983, becoming the first Black American in space. Bluford served as a mission specialist and his jobs were to deploy an Indian communications-weather satellite, perform biomedical experiments, and test the orbiter’s 50-foot robotic arm.

In 1961, President John Kennedy called on the nation to send a man to the Moon. In 1969, the United States did just that. Today, many are familiar with the story of Neil Armstrong’s first few steps on the Moon (cue the “That’s one small step...” quote), but have you ever questioned why we invested so much time, effort, and national attention in getting there? 

After the competitive short-term goals of human spaceflight had been met in the 1960s, many advocates of space exploration envisioned a permanent human presence in space.

There is perhaps no résumé in existence quite as long as Barbie’s. One of her oldest and arguably most iconic careers is as an astronaut. Let's take a look through some of her most iconic space looks, spanning 1965 to today.

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) launched the first GAMBIT-1 high-resolution photoreconnaissance satellite on July 12, 1963. It enabled the United States intelligence community photo analysts to see more detailed images.

The recent launch of VA261 closes out the Ariane 5 rocket’s 117 launches. Take a look back at Europe’s workhorse launcher and the next generation in Ariane 6. 

Launch vehicles require a vast ground-based support system, which is an important part of the stories told at the National Air and Space Museum. Collecting these objects is challenging due to their size and reuse in subsequent programs. Learn more about these artifacts and how Air and Space preserves their ongoing histories.

It’s been nearly 50 years (!) since humans last walked on the Moon.  But NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions will soon return astronauts to the lunar surface.

Scientists are excited about Enceladus as a potential place for life and, more important, as a planet where we can look for life using existing technology and even predict, with some precision, the locations on the icy moon Saturn where we would most likely find this life.

If you think bungee jumping is scary, look at what Joe Kittinger did.