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.

General Electric designed this proof-of-concept turboprop “unducted fan” engine as part of NASA’s Advanced Turboprop Project, which was aimed at overcoming the three-fold increase in fuel prices ...

On June 5, 1966—fifty-five years ago—Eugene Cernan became the third person to walk in space. His spacewalk took place a year and two days after fellow astronaut Ed White had gone outside the ...

Picture the Earth from above. In your mind's eye, what do you see? Today, we have access to air and space technology that lets us see various views of the Earth with ease. However, before the ...

Many know Orville and Wilbur Wright as the “Wright brothers” – the first people to build and fly a heavier-than-air powered aircraft. The success of the 1903 Wright Flyer is perhaps one of the most ...

1. Continuous, Supersonic Afterburner. Ever wonder what causes the diamond pattern in the SR-71 jet engine exhaust? It's due to the extra thrust provided by the afterburner which is actually ...

As a speechwriter at the National Air and Space Museum, I have always been fascinated by looking at great moments in history through the lens of the speeches that were delivered to rousing applause, ...

How skill and rigorous training helped pilots endure when ditching was the only option. Only two of the four large propellers were still turning as the Boeing B-17D slowly descended in the ...

On May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart set out in her Lockheed Vega to become the first woman to fly nonstop and alone over the Atlantic Ocean. Departing from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and landing in ...

How did Mary Golda Ross of Park Hill, Oklahoma, become an engineer working on some of the most important—and top-secret—aerospace technologies of the Cold War? In her words, she “started with a firm ...

“Is there life on Mars?” is a question people have asked for more than a century. But in order to finally get the answer, we have to know what to look for and where to go on the planet to look for ...

While giving a flying lesson in her Piper Cub on Oahu near Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, flight instructor Cornelia Fort witnessed the attack of the Japanese air fleet. She was the first American ...