All Stories

Orville and Wilbur Wright weren't always pioneering aeronautical engineers.

Learn about the two distinct minds that made up the dynamic Wright brothers team.

Congress created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, in 1915 to supervise and direct American aeronautical research. 

Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman are household names of pioneering women aviators, but there were plenty of other women taking to the sky. What are some of the stories of early women aviators you might not know?

On September 25, 1912, Alberto Salinas Carranza and Gustavo Salinas Camiña received their pilot licenses from the Aero Club of America. The Salinas cousins were the first of a group of five Mexican pilots sent by their government to the United States to study at the Moisant Aviation School at Hempstead, Long Island. The photographs and correspondence found in the collection of Shakir S. Jerwan, their “profesor,” provide a unique glimpse into the early history of Mexican aviation.

Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to earn her pilot's license. Take a closer look at her training.

Raise a glass and cheers to a new season of AirSpace! And to help us get in the celebratory mood, today's episode is about a truly intoxicating period of American history – prohibition. You might know [we didn’t] that NASCAR has its roots in bootleggers driving illicit hooch in the 1920s. But it turns out, not all bootleggers were driving their contraband around in cars. Today on AirSpace, learn how prohibition and passenger airlines went hand-in-hand.

A brief treatise on the historic tools used in the construction and restoration of the National Air and Space Museum’s Standard J-1 aircraft.

The 1900 Olympic Games, held in Paris as part of the Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair), was the only year in which ballooning was an official event.

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