All Stories

Space is a mess. At this moment, there are literally thousands of human-made objects cluttering up Earth orbit.  

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has the world’s premier collection of aviation and space artifacts. Less well-known is that the museum also has an outstanding collection of aerospace models.

When a team accomplishes what, at times, seemed impossible, it becomes a victory for all—an entire city or country, or all humankind. We see this in milestones throughout aviation history, and we celebrate those shared victories throughout our Museum. And when a sports team brings a championship to a city that hasn’t seen one in 25 years, the whole city comes out to celebrate. 

Today, NASA announced some exciting new discoveries made by its Curiosity rover. Let our experts at the Museum help break down these exciting new findings.

Conservationist and decorate art historians help solve a mystery behind two balloon-themed chairs in our Museum's collection. 

Explore some incredible visitor images from our 2001: The Bromicide Fest exhibition. 

We remember Alan L.  Bean, the fourth man to walk on the Moon and the only artist to have visited the Moon.

The patches on Sally Ride’s flight jacket help tell her groundbreaking story of spaceflight.

Parsecs are actually astronomical units—not just in the Star Wars universe—used to measure distance, not time. (Sorry, Han.)

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, has a new addition: Nemesis NXT, a record-breaking Sport-class air racer.