Animals have been inspiring human flight long before we achieved it! From their wing shape to how they control their movement, early flying machine designs are very similar to bird anatomy. Watch this short video that shares more about fine-feathered inspiration.
It's not just birds though! Many different types of animals play a big role in air and space discoveries. They not only inspire us but are integral to our scientific work.
Watch closely and listen: What other animals were mentioned in the video as being a part of our early flight experiments?
Check out the activities below to learn more about the awesome role animals play in air and space. What you discover may surprise you!
Jump to Section: Make Wearable Wings Animal-Inspired Blueprints Story Time Recommendations Explore Outside Spotlight Story Collection Connections
Best for ages 5-8, with help from a grown up
Many animals on Earth fly and glide in the sky! Do you have a favorite?
Listen to an original story about how three friends are inspired by flying animals they saw during a visit to the Zoo.
After the video, learn how to make a pair of wings modeled after your favorite real or imaginary flying creature!
Materials needed:
Best for ages 9 and up, with help from a grown-up
Engineers often take inspiration from the world around them to come up with innovative ideas. Flight and the technique of wing-warping was originally inspired by birds, and many modern planes still take their shape from birds to optimize their designs.
For example, the shape of the B-2 plane resembles a peregrine falcon in a dive, since they are the fastest animal on Earth, diving at up to 200 mph from high heights. Biomimicry is the term for designs that are modeled after animals and biological processes.
Design a plane or spacecraft inspired by an animal! Think about animals that fly. How do they do it?
Think about animals that move fast through the air or the water. What shapes do they have in common?
Step 1: Think about an animal that has a really cool trait or body shape. If you can't think of any, choose from one of these we have below:
Birds fly by flapping their wings, which are rounded along the shoulders and thin at the ends. Their bodies are round and smooth. Planes are shaped like birds in many ways!
Dragonflies and other flying insects flap their paper-thin wings very fast to help them fly. Their bodies are thin and sleek. The wings of a plane or space shuttle are flat like the wings of a dragonfly!
Fish are often a sleek, rounded shape to help them move through the water. This could help move through the air too, especially in the case of the "flying fish" who is able to hop out of the water and glide through the air!
Step 2: Sketch out your design. It doesn't have to be perfect! This is just to get your ideas on paper.
Step 3: Share your animal-inspired blueprint with a family member.
by Vix Southgate, illustrated by Iris Deppe
Best for ages 5 - 7
Meet Belka and Strelka, two stray dogs from the Soviet Union who became the first dogs to orbit the Earth and return home safely!
by Mark Kelly, illustrated by C. F. Payne
Best for ages 5 - 8
Written by astronaut Mark Kelly, this fictional story inspired by the mice on Kelly's first flight on the Endeavor space shuttle reminds us that no matter our size, we can all make a difference.
by Melissa Trempe and Natalia Ojeda, illustrated by Manuela Montoya
Best for ages 5 - 8
Natalia and her ladybug friend Luna have big dreams, but they won't be easy to achieve. But one day Natalia's class comes up with an idea that could make their dreams possible! This book is based on the true story of Chilean high school girls who convinced NASA to send their ladybug experiment to space.
Flight was originally discovered by watching birds fly!
Go outside and watch for flying creatures. Take notes, draw a picture of your observations or ask your grown-up if you can take pictures of them.
While observing, think of the following questions:
Dr. Jamie Foster, space biologist
How can we keep astronauts healthy in the tough environment of space? That's what Dr. Jamie Foster wants to know! Her research that sends tiny squid into space will help scientists learn how to do that!
A space biologist is a scientist who studies how the spaceflight environment, like exposure to radiation and microgravity, affects life and how the body works.
Discover objects in our collection related to animals in air and space.
Gilmore the Flying Lion was the pet of the flamboyant air racer and aerial showman Col. Roscoe Turner, one of the most famous aviators of the 1930s. To promote the business, Gilmore Oil Company, Turner adopted a lion cub of just two months old to be his flight companion.
Gilmore flew with Turner when he broke speed records flying from Los Angeles to New York and from Vancouver, Canada, to Aguascalientes, Mexico. For nine months, they flew together before Gilmore got too big. In that short time, he logged over 25,000 miles in the air! He continued to be an ambassador for the skies even after he grew too big, making on the ground appearances with Turner.
You can see Gilmore in the Nation of Speed exhibition at our Washington, DC museum!
The Bee Enclosure Module (BEM) was a habitat box used for two different space shuttle missions to study the behavior of insects in microgravity.
On the mission STS 41-C in 1984, the BEM housed about 3,400 bees that were part of a student experiment! Students wanted to know if bee flight and honeycomb production was affected by microgravity. Astronauts studied the bees' behavior over the course of the week and found that they were able to adapt to flying quite well to microgravity. At first, they kept flying into the walls of the BEM, but by the end of the week they were able to fly from location to location without collisions.
Before the creation of satellites, it was incredibly difficult to track animals without following them on the ground. With the creation of GPS (global positioning system), tracking collars can be put on animals to monitor them remotely! The first GPS tracker ever put on an animal was a 22-pound collar put on an elk named Monique in 1970. Today, GPS tracker design has improved and they can weigh just a few grams.
In our collection we have collars worn by land, sea, and air animals! This first image is the piece of an elephant collar that contains the batteries and tracking technology. A full elephant collar can be up to 13 feet long! A full elephant tracking collar would look like the second image.
For grown ups: Want to learn more about the history of using GPS to track animals? Listen to this AirSpace podcast episode.
Before NASA sent people into space, they sent other types of animals to test the effects of space on human life.
This capsule in the picture held primates like chimpanzees as they helped NASA test if astronauts could perform actions, like pushing buttons, while in launch, micro-gravity, and re-entry.
Scientists taught Ham the chimpanzee to react to pull the lever in front of him whenever he saw a light go off in front of him. During his 16.5 minute flight, Ham was able to pull the lever when the light went off, proving to scientists that motor tasks were able to be performed while in space!
Think About It! Have you ever traveled with an animal before? What type of carrier or container was the animal in to keep it safe?
Soar Together at Air and Space is made possible by the generous support of Northrop Grumman.
Sign up for our mailing list to get notified when more activities like this become available, learn about upcoming family days, get reminders to sign up for other family-friendly programs like virtual planetarium shows and story times, and more.