All Stories

This first-generation Robonaut, housed at the National Air and Space Museum,  was designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA.

Sci-fi is full of giant ships full of humanity living and dying and reaching out to new places far far away. Usually, these are called generations ships. And they rely on well, generations.

These companies are taking a faster, cheaper approach to landing on the moon 

The Peregrine test model is the first commercial lander in the Museum's collection 

To tell the story of the Space Age, the new RTX Living in the Space Age exhibition will share how the Space Age impacts the lives of people worldwide, through the stories of people and objects which brought it about. Learn more about the upcoming reimagined gallery.

Although space itself remained inaccessible to private citizens until the 21st century, other places where Earth and space meet—such as NASA centers—have long been popular destinations for a different kind of space tourist. Read about how people have been incorporating space activities as part of their leisure time since the dawn of the Space Age.

Wally Funk is finally going to space. After being the youngest of the female pilots tested by Dr. Lovelace, Funk will become the oldest person to fly into space at age 82.

What is a hybrid rocket motor? What advantages does it have over conventional liquid and solid propellant rocket motors? These questions point to an exciting breakthrough that occurred on December 13, 2018, when Virgin Galactic successfully launched VSS Unity on its first suborbital flight.

Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and collector Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, made a notable impression here at the National Air and Space Museum.

For the past decade, SpaceShipOne has been on display as one of the hanging artifacts in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall. It was specifically positioned to depict the aircraft in its initial stage of powered flight (30 degrees, nose up attitude) just after release from its White Knight mother ship, which carried it aloft to an altitude of about 14,326 meters (47,000 feet). In March of this year, SpaceShipOne was lowered to the floor as part of a major renovation of the Milestones gallery. During this time, it received a thorough condition assessment and photo documentation by conservator Sharon Norquest. After surface cleaning and minor conservation work is completed, it is scheduled to be rehung this week and will be one of the major artifacts in the new Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, scheduled to open in July 2016. The renovation project provided us with a unique opportunity to consider how we showcase SpaceShipOne in the future.