Press Releases

Christopher Browne has been named the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, effective immediately. He has served as acting director since January 2021. Browne first joined the museum as deputy director in 2017, and he has helped lead the museum’s multi-year renovation of its flagship building in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received a $3 million donation from Iridium to support the renovation of the museum’s flagship building on the National Mall. The “One World Connected” exhibition will tell the story of how satellites fostered the ease of making connections across vast distances and provided a new perspective of Earth as humanity’s home. It is part of the museum’s ongoing transformation of all its galleries at the flagship building in Washington, D.C., and is scheduled to open in fall 2022.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received a $25 million gift from Raytheon Technologies to support the creation of its new “Living in the Space Age” exhibition. The exhibition is located in one of the museum’s three main halls and will show visitors how innovations in space technology have transformed their lives, and why it matters. The “Raytheon Technologies Living in the Space Age” exhibition is part of the museum’s ongoing  transformation of its galleries at the flagship building in Washington, D.C., and scheduled to open in 2025.

The Museum has launched “QueerSpace,” a limited series of its “AirSpace” podcast focusing on stories at the intersection of aviation, space and queer identity. The episodes will explore LGBTQ+ history and culture through an aerospace lens, highlighting how queer culture has shaped the past and future of flight and illustrating the scope and diversity of LGBTQ+ experiences across aviation and space science.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum awards its Michael Collins Trophy annually for Lifetime and Current Achievements. The 2022 recipients are Wally Funk for Lifetime Achievement and the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Team for Current Achievement; they will receive their awards at a ceremony March 24 at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will extend its popular S.H.E. Can STEM camps in Arkansas this spring and summer. The camps are designed for students with an interest in aviation and seek to empower young women to succeed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has accepted into its collection a set of prosthetic ears worn by Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek television series. Donated to the museum by Nimoy’s son Adam Nimoy, the ears will go on display in the new Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery opening late next year.

The National Air and Space Museum’s flagship building on the National Mall will temporarily close to the public March 28, 2022, until fall 2022 to complete work on the first new galleries in the west wing of the building. The museum has been undergoing a major renovation since late 2018.