All Stories

Over fifteen years after the Columbia tragedy, Michael D. Leinbach, Space Shuttle Launch Director, and Jonathan H. Ward, space historian, look back at the harrowing process of recovering the spacecraft. 

The criteria to become an astronaut has evolved over the years, but it’s still one of the toughest jobs to land. 18,000 people applied to be a part of NASA’s most recent astronaut class and only 12 were selected. In this episode, we’ll explore how the right stuff has changed with the times and get a taste of what candidates go through to make the cut. 

NASA Astronaut and USAF command pilot Alvin Drew shares his reflections on a lifetime of exploring the universe.

Today’s launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket, designed and manufactured by Space-X, is what space history curator Tom Lassman describes as “next generation” rocketry, but with roots in the 1960s “Space Age” and technology that helped bring Apollo 11 to the Moon.

The James Webb Space Telescope, an infrared telescope set to launch in 2019, will see beyond what Hubble can show us: the first stars, galaxies, and black holes; comets, asteroids, and satellites; and more throughout our solar system and beyond.

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Columbia disaster.  Every year on this date I think about the crew of the Columbia, my students, and my most difficult day as a teacher. 

For those involved or interested in human spaceflight, the last week of January is a solemn time of remembrance, as we commemorate Apollo 1 and the Space Shuttle missions Challenger and Columbia. How does our Museum deal with the memory of such tragedies? 

The Museum will have a brand new opportunity to tell the story of air transportation thanks, in part, to a gift from eight major airlines. 

Tomorrow's supermoon is actually being called a “super blue blood moon,” and it’s really rare. Here's what to look for.

In the quiet of the Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia sits the U.S. Air Force F-100D “Super Sabre,” serial number 56-3440. 440 was in Vietnam from June 1965 until July 1970, but its most intense combat was seen 50 years ago, during the Tet Offensive.