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 81 - 90 of 176

formal portrait of a man

July 03, 2019

Bob Gilruth: Architect of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo

Story | Apollo 50

Bob Gilruth, more than anyone else, created the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and the Houston center that managed them.

Apollo 11 Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin and Lunar Module Interior

July 02, 2019

Buzz Aldrin’s Doctoral Thesis

Story | Apollo 50

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the first astronaut to receive a degree of Doctor of Science (Sc.D). We explore his thesis on “Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous.”

Portrait of a man

July 01, 2019

Abe Silverstein and the Race to the Moon

Story | Apollo 50

Abraham Silverstein (1908-2001), created and named the Apollo program and, most critically, pushed the adoption of liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel for the boosters that launched Apollo. 

Purple and pink logo of AirSpace

June 27, 2019

AirSpace Season 2|Ep.8
Walking on the Moon

Story | AirSpace Podcast

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, AirSpace examines what we knew then, what we know now, and what mysteries of lunar science still remain.

Purple and pink logo of AirSpace

June 13, 2019

AirSpace Season 2|Ep.7
Rock on the Moon

Story | AirSpace Podcast

What music would you take along on a quarter-million mile road trip?

Purple and pink logo of AirSpace

April 25, 2019

AirSpace Season 2|Ep.4
AirSpace Live at SXSW

Story | AirSpace Podcast

In this special episode recorded at SXSW, Emily, Matt, and Nick recount stories of failure and how they’ve inspired a whole lot of success in science and space exploration

Chesley Bonestell

March 20, 2019

Decades of Inspiration from Chesley Bonestell

Story

This guest blog post by space artist Ron Miller explores the impact illustrator Chesley Bonestell had on his life, and recounts 50 years of telling Bonestell's story.

Capt. James A. Lovell, USN (Ret.)

December 21, 2018

Apollo 8 Astronaut Remembers Looking Down at Earth

Story

Capt. James A Lovell, Apollo 8 astronaut, shares his memories of that historic mission at our Spirit of Apollo, 50th anniversary celebration.

Apollo 8’s trans-lunar injection, setting it on a trajectory to the Moon.

December 21, 2018

Photographing Apollo 8's Orbit Toward the Moon

Story

The moment of humankind's first voyage to the Moon and back was captured in a series of photos taken by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observing Station in Maui, Hawaii. They show the trans-lunar injection rocket burn which sent Apollo 8 hurtling out of Earth orbit toward the Moon on December 21, 1968–perhaps the only such images that exist.

View of the Earth rising above the lunar surface, taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft, December 24, 1968. Autographed by William Alison Anders, Frank Frederick Borman, II, and James Arthur "Jim" Lovell, Jr.

December 21, 2018

Broadcasting Apollo 8 Live From Space

Story

Fifty years ago, humans orbited the Moon for the first time. On Christmas Eve, the astronauts addressed the nation on a live television broadcast to Earth.