All Smithsonian museums, including our locations in D.C. and Virginia, are closed Sunday, Jan. 25, and Monday, Jan. 26 due to winter weather.
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 211 - 220 of 531
December 15, 2020
December 15, 2020 marks the 100th birthday of aviation ‘sheroes’, Bernice “Bee” Falk Haydu, a WWII Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), entrepreneurial aviator, and lifelong advocate for women military pilots. Happy birthday, Bee!
December 08, 2020
Brig. Gen. Charles “Chuck” Yeager was a famed test pilot, World War II ace, and the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.
November 29, 2020
Francis Dawson, whose heritage was almost always included in newspaper coverage of his flights (usually with the generic term “Indian”) remains a name to be remembered in Osage County, Oklahoma.
November 26, 2020
We all need a little self-care these days, so in honor of the ISS's 20th anniversary, we’ll tell you about what astronaut life is like when they aren’t doing the extraordinary science, essential maintenance, and extraterrestrial chores necessary to sustain our home in space.
November 12, 2020
During World War II, pilots evaluated a wide range of aircraft types for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Test pilot Stefan Cavallo’s flight trials were critical to successful operations during the war.
November 12, 2020
On this episode of AirSpace we’re spotlighting the heroic service and enduring legacy of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP. More than 1000 of these fearless women flew as civilians for the Army Air Forces during World War II. And we’ll hear firsthand from three women connected to the WASP legacy, including a WASP herself, Nell “Mickey” Bright.
October 30, 2020
Throughout his long life, famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke corresponded with numerous people. This blog examine the correspondents that Clarke had with Stanley Kubrick, rocket scientist and pioneer Wernher von Braun, and Irish fantasy author Edward Plunkett, who published under the name Lord Dunsany.
October 22, 2020
We’re all fans of something—movies, tv shows, video games, comic books, sports teams, you name it!—and that can help us connect with new people with shared interests and frames of reference. In this episode, we’re talking about how and why fan communities form, and what happens when the barrier to entry turns toxic and targeted.
September 29, 2020
A. Roy Knabenshue became interested in lighter-than-air flight after seeing a balloon ascension when he was 5 years old and would become the first person to successfully pilot a dirigible in the United States, flying Thomas S. Baldwin’s California Arrow at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
September 24, 2020
About 82,000 American service members are listed as Missing in Action – 72,000 from World War II alone. Recent technologies like robotic submersibles, advanced sonar, and DNA matching are making it easier for recovery operations to find the downed airplanes, and identify the remains of service members.