Buck Rogers first appeared in the pulp magazine Amazing Stories in August 1928 as "Anthony Rogers." Renamed "Buck" to tap into the popularity of Westerns, Rogers eventually had his own comic strip, radio program, and television show.

When Daisy Manufacturing Co. introduced this first Buck Rogers metal gun for 50¢ in 1934, its popularity sparked a brief price war between Macy's and Gimbel's department stores. 

It’s Halloween eve, 1938, and you're listening to the radio. Suddenly, the broadcast is interrupted by breaking news. First, a report of explosions on Mars, then news of a meteorite landing in New Jersey, and suddenly a correspondent is attacked live on air by a Martian heat ray!

Obvious spoiler: there was no Martian attack. What actually happened might surprise you.

Star Trek became one of the most influential shows in television history. 

Premiering in 1966, the original series depicts a racially-integrated, multinational crew of men and women aboard the starship Enterprise working together as they travel the cosmos.

The show's plot, including its attention to contemporary social and political issues, pushed the boundaries of network television, earning Star Trek a dedicated fan base. Even though the original series only lasted three seasons, fans lobbied for the franchise's continuation. And continue it did, with several spin-off series, a film franchise, and more.

This 11 foot model of the starship Enterprise was used in the filming of the original Star Trek series. In 2016, after extensive research and meticulous conservation, the model was restored to its appearance at the end of filming for the original television series.

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Conserving the Starship

When viewers filed into the seats to see 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time in 1968, they saw astronaut David Bowman travel on a voyage to Jupiter. (Spoiler alert: Things don’t quite go as planned—including a famous face off with HAL, the spaceship's computer.) 

Director Stanley Kubrick based the film on Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel” and the two men wrote the screenplay together. The novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, written by Clarke, was not published until after the film debuted.

In 1977, Star Wars: A New Hope became one of the biggest box office hits of all time. It was the first installment of the Star Wars series, which introduced generations of fans to space as a setting for adventure and exploration.

Star Wars takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and explores our heroes' fight against the evil Empire.

The original trilogy of Star Wars movies may have been about taking down one empire, but it sparked another dynasty—one that continued in several movies, television shows, books, and more. 

A T-70 X-wing Starfighter hangs amidst a variety of real-life aircraft and spacecraft in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The full-sized vehicle, with a wingspan of 37 feet, appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and is on long-term loan from Lucasfilm.

This is the model of the alien Mother Ship used in the filming of the 1977 movie directed by Stephen Spielberg. The ship was made using model train parts and other kits. When filmed with special photographic and lighting effects, the model appears to be a huge, hovering craft.