Stories of daring, stories of technological feats, stories of prevailing against the odds ... these are the stories we tell at the National Air and Space Museum. Dive in to the stories below to discover, learn, and be inspired.
Showing 1 - 10 of 164
October 09, 2025
While you wait for AirSpace Season 11, check out this episode on the science and history of auroras from our friends at Smithsonian Magazine's podcast, There's More to That.
August 29, 2025
Over 5,800 exoplanets have been discovered, with more and more being observed almost every day. But what makes these objects planets and not stars? How different are planets and stars, actually?
July 31, 2025
The majority of what has been accomplished in space has been carried out by uncrewed robotic craft.
June 24, 2025
In 1920, Astronomers Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley debated at the Smithsonian whether Andromeda was a separate galaxy.
June 24, 2025
A hundred years ago, astronomer Edwin Hubble revealed a universe of galaxies that existed beyond ours. His influence in astronomy continues to this day.
May 23, 2025
With the advent of the Space Age, scientists began searching for extraterrestrial life using radio waves, believing advanced civilizations might send signals across space. Despite Cold War tensions, researchers from different countries worked together to explore this possibility. Their efforts led to international meetings, shaping modern SETI research in the search for cosmic communication.
March 27, 2025
We pick up where Part One left off! When you hear 'space race' you probably (correctly) think about the 1960s Soviet Union v. U.S. race to put an astronaut on the Moon. But a few hundred years before, the space race was all about Venus.
March 27, 2025
We pick up where Part One left off! When you hear 'space race' you probably (correctly) think about the 1960s Soviet Union v. U.S. race to put an astronaut on the Moon. But a few hundred years before, the space race was all about Venus.
March 20, 2025
Aviation and space in the news.
March 20, 2025
An interview with Dante Lauretta, NASA's principal investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission. In his new book, The Asteroid Hunter, Lauretta recounts the sample-return mission that brought rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu to back to Earth.