All Stories

In 1969, nearly 600 million people tuned in to watch the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Four of these rapt viewers were a family of Indian immigrants in Delaware. Four months later that family was driving through Ohio and decided to stop and knock on Neil Armstrong’s parent's door.

What's new in aviation and space.

Walter Cunningham passed away on January 3, 2023. As a member of Apollo 7, Cunningham took on the risk of flying the first crewed flight of the Apollo program, which paved the way for future Apollo missions, including the first lunar landing in 1969.

Many artifacts from the Apollo missions are closer than you think.  Through collaborations with affiliate organizations, the Smithsonian sponsors traveling exhibits and shares artifacts with museums throughout the U.S. and abroad, including more than 300 artifacts from the Apollo program.

More than 50 years ago, a fire killed three Apollo astronauts. My grandfather was there.   

This review of Apollo astronaut Fred Haise's autobiography provides a detailed account of Apollo 13, which he flew with crew mates Jim Lovell and Jack Swigert. 

When the Apollo 17 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 50 years ago, they were the last humans to visit the Moon. NASA’s Artemis program is set to return humans to the Moon, but not for two to three years from now. Why has it taken more than five decades to send humans back to the Moon?

When the crew of Apollo 17, the last Apollo Moon landing, returned to Earth after their record-breaking mission in December 1972, commander Gene Cernan brought back the pair of lunar overshoes he walked on the surface of the Moon with. The boots that left the last human footprints on the lunar surface now live in the Destination Moon exhibition at the Museum.

The Rocketdyne F-1 engines powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo lunar missions. The Air and Space Museum’s redesigned F-1 installation offers a new perspective on the most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine in U.S. history.

To honor his passing at the age of 93, curator Jennifer Levasseur reflects on the life of two-time astronaut Gen. James A. McDivitt and his connection with the Museum.