All Stories

The Blue Max (based on the 1964 critically acclaimed novel of the same title by Jack D. Hunter) brings a new complexity to the flying ace protagonist.

Today, the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia will go on display at Space Center Houston, the first of four stops in the national tour Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission. This is the first time the Command Module has left the nation’s capital since 1971. If you plan to see the Module in your city—the tour will travel to St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Seattle over the next two years—we have an excellent way to prepare. Or if you’re looking to dive into Apollo history on the comfort of your own couch, we also have you covered.

The historic importance of the Sikorsky JRS-1—a weathered blue-gray airplane now on display at our Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia—is not because of the type of airplane it is. Its importance lies in one of the places the JRS-1 has been and survived: Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Una de las muchas razones por la cual me encanta trabajar en el Museo Nacional del Aire y del Espacio es que uno nunca sabe a quién va a conocer. Eso es lo que me pasó un día en mayo cuando mis colegas me preguntaron si quería entrevistar en español, al astronauta de la NASA Danny Olivas, para el programa What’s New in Aerospace, que el Museo ofrece en Internet.   

On October 4, 2017, Shaesta Waiz became the youngest woman to fly solo around the globe in a single-engine plane. Before completing her historic flight, the Afghan refugee visited the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to share her story and what helped her succeed. 

The “Spinners” flying cars from Ridley Scott's 1982 darkly dystopian Blade Runner film reappear in the sequel, Blade Runner 2049. But are there any hopes for flying cars that can operate from rooftops by 2049?

The spacesuits that astronauts wear act as their own personal spacerafts--regulating their temperatures, and made to protect them from micrometeorites while outside of the International Space Station. Join the STEM in 30 team as they create their own "space suits" for some astronaut "Taternauts." 

Sputnik, the world’s first human-made satellite of the Earth, was launched on October 4, 1957, marking the beginning of the Space Age and the modern world in which we live today.

In the latest episode of ISS Science, Astronaut Randy Bresnik explains some of the challenges astronauts face during spacewalks including extreme temperatures. Then, we stimulate the effects of extreme temperatures on metals here on Earth.

Send questions to archivists from the National Air and Space Museum Archives on Twitter this October 4, during #AskAnArchivist!