A. Roy Knabenshue became interested in lighter-than-air flight after seeing a balloon ascension when he was 5 years old and would become the first person to successfully pilot a dirigible in the United States, flying Thomas S. Baldwin’s California Arrow at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

About 82,000 American service members are listed as Missing in Action – 72,000 from World War II alone. Recent technologies like robotic submersibles, advanced sonar, and DNA matching are making it easier for recovery operations to find the downed airplanes, and identify the remains of service members.

On August 18, 2020, the United States celebrates the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which declared that the right to vote "shall not be denied...on account of sex." Several collections in the National Air and Space Museum Archives provide short stories along the long path of the women’s suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment.

Curator Alex Spencer tells the story of Felice Figus.

Curator Margaret Weitekamps shares a new artifact to join our collection: the Congressional Space Medal of Honor awarded to astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Curator Jeremy Kinney explores the contribution of Royal Air Force leader Desmond Cooke to the improvement of Supermarine Spitfires prior to the Battle of Britain.

Today we’re talking about Sully, the movie based on the real-life emergency water landing of US Airways flight 1549 which ditched in the Hudson River in January 2009. 

In 1945, the Tuskegee Airmen of the 477th Bombardment Group protested discrimination at Freeman Field through pre-planned displays of resistance against the segregated officers' clubs.

National Air and Space Museum chief curator Peter Jakab shares the story of Japanese American veteran Ben Kuroki.

On the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission, curator Margaret Weitekamp looks at the history and significance of one of our most iconic artifacts from the mission: Gene Kranz's white vest.