All Stories

Surviving an aircraft pilot takes piloting skills and rigorous training.

Many of Robert H. Goddard's early rockets are part of the National Air and Space Museum’s permanent collection, some of which are on display at the Museum in Washington, D.C., and at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. 

This first-generation Robonaut, housed at the National Air and Space Museum,  was designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA.

An interview with Dante Lauretta, NASA's principal investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission. In his new book, The Asteroid Hunter, Lauretta recounts the sample-return mission that brought rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu to back to Earth.

Laura Bromwell’s determined spirit and career as a member of the NYPD Aviation Reserves marked the beginning of women serving as invaluable members of the combined aviation and law enforcement communities. 

When you hear 'space race' you probably (correctly) think about the 1960s Soviet Union v. U.S. race to put an astronaut on the Moon. But a few hundred years before, the space race was all about Venus.

Before Zambia’s Independence Day in October 1964, Edward Makuka Nkoloso announced to the press, and all who would listen, the formation of the Zambian Space Program. He promised to beat both the United States and the USSR in sending humans to the Moon and pledged to send trained cats to Mars.

The oldest Earth rocks we have are 4.3 billion years old, and samples we've brought back from the Moon are even older. But what what does that have to do with craters on Mars? 

James E. Martin, an electronics technician who worked in the RCA Space Center, helped build the Ranger 7 spacecraft’s camera system, which sent back over 4,000 detailed images in less than 17 minutes before crashing into the Moon in 1964.

Conservators had the rare opportunity to examine the cockpit of the Museum's North American X-15-1, allowing the stabilization of its delicate plastic components.