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 41 - 50 of 111

1903 Wright Flyer

March 24, 2021

Explore the Wright Flyer

Story | Air and Space Photos

Explore all of the rich content about the Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer that can be found on the Museum's website.

Wing delivery drone No. A1229

August 04, 2020

Delivery by Drone with Wing

Story

As we collect the delivery drone used by Wing for the first commercial drone delivery to a U.S. home, we talk to Wing CTO Adam Woodworth about his work at Wing, his passion for aviation, and how it feels to have a project he worked on join the Smithsonian collection.

medal in display box

July 24, 2020

Neil Armstrong’s Congressional Space Medal of Honor

Story

Curator Margaret Weitekamps shares a new artifact to join our collection: the Congressional Space Medal of Honor awarded to astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Image taken on April 1, 1960 by TIROS 1. This was the first television picture of Earth from space.

April 01, 2020

The TIROS 1 Weather Satellite and Its Environmental Legacy

Story

On the evening of April 1, 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower saw the first image sent back from space by the Television InfraRed Observation Satellite (TIROS) 1 weather satellite—shaped, as some quipped, like “an enormous hatbox.”

Woman sits at control panel

September 12, 2019

Calculating Trajectories and Breaking Boundaries During Apollo

Story | Apollo 50

In the late 1960s, Poppy Northcutt was a return-to-Earth specialist with TRW, working on a contract with NASA on one of the most exciting adventures of the 20th century: humanity’s quest for the Moon. With computer programming skills and a degree in mathematics, she worked with her team at TRW on the development of the return-to-Earth program. And she became the first woman in Mission Control.

Man in glasses accepts ticket from other man (plane model in foreground)

June 28, 2019

"Passenger Number One" on Pan American's First Transatlantic Flight

Story | From the Archives

In 2019, we commemorate several transatlantic firsts, including the 100th anniversaries of the first transatlantic flight by the Navy NC-4 in May and the first nonstop transatlantic flight by John Alcock and Arthur Brown. June 28 marks the 80th anniversary of the inaugural Pan American Airways transatlantic passenger flight in 1939. For William John Eck, it was a voyage for which he had waited eight long years. Finally, he was “Passenger Number One”!

March 1949 Flight Details on Beechcraft Bonanza

May 20, 2019

A Year of Anniversaries for Record-Setter Bill Odom and the Beechcraft 35 Bonanza

Story | Air and Space Photos

2019 marks the 70th anniversary of two long-distance light plane records by William P. Odom. Those records were set in the Museum’s Beechcraft 35 Bonanza, which is displayed at our Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. In addition, it is also the 100th anniversary of William Paul Odom’s birth, on October 21, 1919, in Porum, Oklahoma.

Three aircraft on the water with people on the dock

April 16, 2019

The 100th Anniversary of the First Transatlantic Flight: Transcribe the Albert Read NC-4 Collection

Story | From the Archives

In May 1919, the U.S. Navy sponsored three Curtiss flying boats—the NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4—each with a crew of six, in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Lt. Commander Albert C. Read commanded the NC-4, the only aircraft to succeed in its mission.  As we prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NC-4’s historic transatlantic flight, the materials in Read’s collection are available to transcribe in the Smithsonian’s Transcription Center. 

Julian Nott with ICI Innovation Balloon Gondola

April 02, 2019

Remembering Julian Nott, Ballooning Pioneer

Story

The world of sport aviation suffered a tragic loss on March 25, 2019, with the death of Julian R.P. Nott after an accident on the ground following a successful landing of an experimental balloon. Nott was one of the founders of the modern sport ballooning movement and an innovator in the field.

Apollo 8 Crew

December 21, 2018

First to the Moon: Apollo 8 and the Soviet Union

Story

As we celebrate the anniversary of the pioneering Apollo 8 mission, many commentators and news stories will assert that NASA sent Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders to the Moon to beat the Soviet Union. In fact, the Soviets were planning to send two cosmonauts to loop around the Moon, but that statement of the agency’s intent is, at best, half true.