All Stories

Cyrus K. Bettis was a leading US Army Air Service pilot in the 1920s that became the world’s fastest air racer in 1925. In July 2018, members of his family visited the Museum to donate artifacts and archival materials documenting his life near the airplane that he flew and the prizes that he won.

Wildfire season is getting longer, according to the US Forest Service, making firefighting a bigger, more vital operation each year. In this episode, Emily, Matt, and Nick take a look at how the pros fight wildfires with everything from large water-carrying airtankers and helicopters to daring smokejumpers who parachute into the blaze equipped with axes, shovels, and chainsaws. 

Since the earliest days of flight, Hispanic men and women have shaped aviation—breaking records, exploring the farthest reaches of our world, and shaping what’s possible in the aerospace field.  

On October 1, 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was officially created, beginning a 60-year journey of American innovation and space exploration. While there are many (many, many!) unique NASA objects in the Air and Space collection, these six highlight milestones that shaped our nation’s quest to better understand our universe.

We all have ideas that defy in our back pocket. My personal idea that defies, the thing I dream of humans achieving, is sailing on an alien sea. 

Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe’s lesson plans fly in space 32 years later. 

At age 30, Afghan-American pilot Shaesta Waiz became the youngest woman to circumnavigate the globe solo in a single-engine aircraft. (She managed to snap a photo or two along the way.) Waiz shared some of her favorite images from her record-breaking journey.

The National Air and Space Museum is full of ideas that defy. Ideas that defy any obstacle, ideas that defy our expectations, ideas that literally defy gravity. Follow us as we discover the remarkable, the audacious, the outrageous, the #IdeasThatDefy.

The U-2 Incident and Francis Gary Powers captured the world’s attention in 1960. Now, 58 years later, volunteers all around the world can transcribe his words.

Scientists have been looking for creative solutions to clean up space junk. One proposal from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory looks to nature for inspiration: the gecko.