All Stories

After the competitive short-term goals of human spaceflight had been met in the 1960s, many advocates of space exploration envisioned a permanent human presence in space.

Launch vehicles require a vast ground-based support system, which is an important part of the stories told at the National Air and Space Museum. Collecting these objects is challenging due to their size and reuse in subsequent programs. Learn more about these artifacts and how Air and Space preserves their ongoing histories.

A conversation with aerospace engineer Dennis Jenkins who works with the space shuttles, relying on his expertise in orbiter construction to ensure their maintenance as museum artifacts. 

The latest news in aviation and space.

Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden was NASA's first African American Administrator. He also served in the military and logged over 680 hours in space.

Museum curator emerita Valerie Neal reflects and shares her memories of Space Shuttle Columbia's disaster on the 20th anniversary of STS-107.

Chawla made history as the first Indian woman, and the first South Asian American woman, to fly in space. Discover her story.

The checklists Sally Ride included in her personal papers help tell the story of her remarkable life.

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?

Eileen M. Collins, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, was the first woman to be the pilot on a NASA space shuttle flight. She recently spoke with Air & Space Quarterly senior editor Diane Tedeschi.