This fall, the National Air and Space Museum will present three evening lectures at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, exploring the stories of women and people of color in aviation and spaceflight. The museum’s fall aviation lectures will highlight women who have broken boundaries in military aviation and the museum’s marquee space lecture will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. All lectures are free to the public and require advance registration. Each lecture will also be streamed live on YouTube. 

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has welcomed a Boeing CV2 Cargo Air Vehicle (CAV) to the collection. This CAV was the first remotely piloted large eVTOL (electrical vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft to be flown in support of a commercial operation in the United States. The themed CAV is a gift from Boeing and Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development and will go on display at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will serve as a major source of information, educational activities and experiences on and around the total solar eclipse taking place April 8. The next total solar eclipse will not be visible in the contiguous United States for over 20 years. 

Findings from a recently published paper led by Smithsonian senior scientist emeritus Thomas R. Watters reveal evidence that the deposits of the vast Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) may contain a significant volume of water ice.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has accepted into its collection an aerial prototype of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. The prototype has been donated to the museum by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The 20th anniversary of opening the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center will take place in December. To commemorate this milestone, a celebration at the museum in Chantilly, Virginia, will take place Saturday, Dec. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.