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.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum recently acquired three Hala Sentry System artifacts—a red warning light, a communications relay device, and an acoustic sensor. They will be displayed in the upcoming Raytheon Technologies Living in the Space Age gallery when it opens in in a few years. Hala Systems Inc. donated the objects to the Museum.

Imagine this: It’s 1936 and you’re taking a luxurious three day flight from Germany to the United States in the Hindenburg. But instead of landing in New Jersey as expected, you dock to the top of the tallest building in the world: the Empire State Building.

The Artemis II mission will return humans to the vicinity of the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. And those Moon-faring humans are commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen.  

Katharine Wright played an important role in the early US aviation industry. The younger sister of Wilbur and Orville Wright, inventors of the first heavier-than-air powered aircraft, she was a key representative within the Wright Company.

Project Paperclip was a program that brought German and Austrian engineers, scientists, and technicians to the United States after the end of World War II in Europe.

From forgotten trailblazers to unsung heroes, the stories of these three lesser-known women in aviation are a testament to the power of perseverance, determination, and a love of flight.

A duck in a hot air balloon. A cat in an airship. A lion cub in an airplane. Stories of animals in flight.

Navy pilots recall the final, frenetic days of the air war over Vietnam.

A small group of enthusiasts keeps World War I airplanes aloft.