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Remembering the Death of Lt. Joe Kennedy Jr. and America’s First Combat Drones

Browse our collections, stories, research, and on demand content. A drone B-17, seen a year after the dropping of the first atomic bomb, when it was being evaluated for use in sampling atomic clouds ...
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Alan Shepard: First American in Space

Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC.
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National Air and Space Museum Expands Its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC.
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Art of the Airport Tower

Art of the Airport Tower takes you on a photographic journey to airports in the United States and around the globe. Smithsonian photographer Carolyn Russo explores the varied forms and functions of ...
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Missile, Air-to-Air, Falcon GAR-1

Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC. This ...
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Ellison Shoji Onizuka: The First Asian American in Space

When NASA astronaut Ellison Onizuka rode Space Shuttle Discovery into space on shuttle mission STS-51-C in 1985, he made history on several counts. He was the first Asian American astronaut, the first ...
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Snoopy In Space

How a cartoon beagle helped popularize NASA’s Apollo program. A Snoopy doll sold in 1969 wears a spacesuit and carries a flight safety pack, reflecting his role as a mascot for NASA’s Space Flight ...
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The Cuban Missile Crisis

Maj. Richard Heyser had been sitting 14 miles above the Earth for 5 hours. Soaring at the edge of space, he flew from northern California, around the Gulf of Mexico, and approached the small island of ...
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How Commercial Landers Are Changing Lunar Exploration

Commercial landers signal a new era in lunar exploration. At the new Moonshot Museum in Pittsburgh, visitors can tour a lunar habitat, design a mission patch, and even build their own model rovers.
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The First Space Stations

Browse our collections, stories, research, and on demand content. Before the race to the Moon ended in 1969, both the Americans and Soviets were planning their separate futures in space. After the ...
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Fighting for the Right to Fly: Marlon D. Green

Marlon D. Green fought and won the right to fly as a pilot for a major United States airline—a triumph during a time when segregation often kept Black people out of what were at the time all-white ...
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Kalpana Chawla: The First South Asian American Woman in Space

Kalpana Chawla, PhD, was an engineer, pilot, and astronaut who spent more than 30 days in space over two Space Shuttle missions. Chawla was born in Karnal, India, and was fascinated by flight since ...