Seed: 8
The Bell UH-1H helicopters were game changers during the Vietnam War, providing the mobility necessary to move cargo, transport soldiers safely into enemy territory, and rescue wounded soldiers. By the end of the 20th century, more Hueys had been produced than almost any other American military aircraft.
Seed: Wild Card
Small but mighty, it’s the Sky Baby! If that adorable exterior isn’t enough to win your heart, just wait until you hear its origin story: On a dare from another pilot, Ray Stits built Sky Baby in an attempt to prove he could build the smallest existing human-carrying airplane in the world.
Seed: 7
A sleek smartphone with a 48 megapixel camera and 256 gigabytes of storage? No, better: A brightly-colored phone booth shaped like a Mercury capsule carrying a rotary phone. This phone booth was made in the late 1960s and was installed in the visitor center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now who do I call to get one of these installed in my house?
Seed: Wild Card
The Corona Film Return Capsule flies under the radar, giving you the secret advantage. Corona satellites took reconnaissance images of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, sending them back in capsules that detached from the satellite and hurtled through the atmosphere before being collected by an Air Force plane.
Seed: 7
If you feel the need, the need for speed, the F-14 Tomcat should be your pick! This supersonic, twin-engine, variable sweep-wing, two-place strike fighter gained worldwide fame in Top Gun, and the Museum’s F-14D is credited with one MiG kill.
Seed: 4
Agility is the name of the game for the Pitts Special S-1C. Its ability to roll or change direction at the drop of a hat is what led the Pitts Special to become one of the most famous and dominant aerobatic aircraft the world has ever seen. The Museum’s Little Stinker was flown by Aviation Hall of Famer Betty Skelton to win two Feminine International Aerobatic Championship titles.
Seed: Wild Card
A dazzling performer, the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny was one of the first celebrities of the aviation world. Jennys were one of the most popular planes among 1920s barnstormers, who traveled the country performing airplane stunts for amazed audiences, introducing flight to the masses.
Seed: 6
Snoopy wants YOU to vote Sopwith Camel! The Sopwith Camel is among the most famous and significant of all World War I aircraft, downing 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter in WWI. (Plus, it was famously “flown” by Snoopy the World War I Flying Ace in his showdowns with the Red Baron!)
Seed: 8
A bold explorer on a scientific mission, the Pathfinder lander has been where no human has ever set foot. Pathfinder landed on Mars in 1997 carrying the Sojourner rover. Together, Pathfinder and Sojourner sent back 10,000 photos and 1.2 billion bits of data about the Martian landscape, geology, and atmosphere. This Pathfinder engineering model was given to the Museum by NASA in 1999.
Seed: 5
Meet one of the world’s most experienced and most stylish space travelers: Barbie! Astronaut Barbie has been inspiring new generations of space explorers since 1965, and the Museum’s five Astronaut Barbie dolls span nearly 70 years, demonstrating humans’ evolving conceptions of spaceflight (and fashion). Our two newest dolls joined our collection this year after a trip to the International Space Station!
Seed: Wild Card
Spacelab is the brains of the operation — an essential member of any team. This Spacelab Laboratory Module was flown on nine separate Space Shuttle missions and served as a place for astronauts to conduct scientific research and experiments.
Seed: 3
This movie star is ready for its close-up! This 5-foot-wide model of the alien Mother Ship from Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind isn’t just a miniature replica — it's the actual prop used in filming. The crew used special filming and lighting techniques to make it look bigger on-screen. Fun fact: Parts of this prop were constructed using model train parts.
Seed: 5
The Boeing 307 Stratoliner doesn’t shy away from pressure — literally. The Stratoliner was the first commercial airliner with a pressurized cabin, allowing for the transport of passengers at higher, less turbulent altitudes and ushering in an era of increased comfort in commercial air travel. The Museum’s Stratoliner was flown by Pan American as Clipper Flying Cloud.
Seed: 3
The insatiable, unbeatable Martin B-26 Marauder Flak-Bait never gives up — even when the going gets tough. This bomber aircraft took on excessive damage during World War II (it sports over 1,000 patched combat damage holes) but still managed to survive 206 operational missions, more than any other American aircraft in the war.
Seed: 4
Look no further for perfect mission gear! Astronaut and lunar module pilot Jim Irwin wore this pressure suit on the Apollo 15 mission, when he explored the Moon in the Lunar Roving Vehicle, set up science experiments, and collected over 170 pounds of lunar samples. Apollo A7L spacesuits consisted of approximately 26 layers of materials designed to protect the astronaut from the extremes of temperature to be found in the vacuum of space and on the lunar surface.
Seed: 2
Strong, reliable, and always prepared – the Mobile Quarantine Facility is the perfect teammate. The Apollo 11 astronauts stayed in this converted Airstream trailer for 88 hours following their return from the Moon while they were transferred to a larger quarantine facility as a precaution against “Moon germs.” By Apollo 15, quarantine was no longer part of the Apollo return process.
Seed: 2
The Concorde gets you there in half the time, so why not give it your vote? As the world’s first supersonic airliner, the Concorde flew passengers across the Atlantic at 2x the speed of sound, cruising so high that passengers could actually see the curvature of the Earth through their windows.
Seed: 6
Travel in style with the Manned Maneuvering Unit, a backpack propulsion system that astronauts could use to move around when performing work outside the Space Shuttle. That’s right — it's basically a jetpack. In 1984, Bruce McCandless used this MMU to make the first untethered spacewalk.
