All Stories

Take a look back with us at the landers, rovers, and helicopter that have explored Mars.

There is no place like home—at least in our neighborhood.

Astronauts headed to Mars and beyond won’t be able to depend on Earth for a quick response in the event of a medical emergency.

What's new in aviation and space

To tell the story of the first American in space, the Museum has conserved and digitized the Mercury suit Alan Shepard wore during the first American human spaceflight in 1961. The suit will be displayed in the new Destination Moon exhibition.

Analogous to the Wright brothers on December 17, 1903, the first flights of Ingenuity clearly demonstrated that a powered machine could fly under control in the thin Martian atmosphere. Read about how the Mars Helicopter has exceeded expectations and what it has accomplished on the surface of the Red Planet for an entire year.

The lunar roving vehicle (LRV), gave Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 astronauts the ability to travel far distances and haul equipment and samples with ease. Read about the conservation treatment of the qualification test unit LRV, used for testing to ensure that the rovers for the Apollo missions functioned properly while on the Moon.

When researching QueerSpace, we repeatedly saw creators blending themes of space and themes of queerness in their art. Many of these artists use their art to envision new futures. Futurist thinking uses the experience of the past and present to contextualize and reimagine what the future could be, often creating a future that’s more equitable and radically different than what we have now.

Despite being known as a leader in terms of gender and racial integration, it wasn't until 2017 that the first openly gay characters were introduced in a Star Trek television show. We talk to curator Margaret Weitekamp about Star Trek's history with LGBTQ+ stories and characters.

Mars massive dust storms that periodically engulf and continue to puzzle planetary scientists—and pose threats to future expeditions. NASA’s beloved solar-powered rover, Opportunity, was killed in the line of duty when a 2018 dust storm blotted out the sun.  Individual dust particles on Mars are very small and slightly electrostatic, so they stick to the surfaces they contact like Styrofoam packing peanuts. As such, the dust can potentially gum up delicate machinery and space suits.