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The Life Cycle of Stars

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how we wonder . . . well, where to even begin? How do stars form from gas and dust? Why do some stars go supernova? And what the heck is the "main sequence?" We brought ...
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President Nixon and James Fletcher

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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This Daring 1924 Flight Was a Race Against the Sun

An aviation enthusiast retraces the path of Lieutenant Russell L. Maughan’s epic flight across America. Logan, Utah, is a quiet college town in the agricultural community of Cache Valley in northern ...
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A New Book Explains the Delay in Hiring Women as Astronauts

Find out how NASA’s astronaut selection process has evolved. In her new book, On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts, Valerie Neal confirms what we’ve known all along: Astronauts ...
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Mapping the Moon with the Lunar Orbiter

If you are traveling somewhere new, you are more than likely going to need some form of map to get there. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave the United States a mandate: Before the decade was out ...
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Lt Jack Jacobs USNR

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. I ...
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The Radio Universe, the Cold War, and Universal Communication

With the advent of the Space Age, investigating whether there is extraterrestrial life somewhere in the universe that humans could contact has become a scientifically legitimate question. This ...
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James E. Martin, the Engineer Who Captured America’s First Images of the Moon’s Surface

The Ranger 7 robotic spacecraft was a major turning point in the race to the Moon. After 13 consecutive unsuccessful attempts for the U.S. to take images of the lunar surface, on July 31, 1964, Ranger ...
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Preserving History at Hypersonic Speeds: A Close-Up Look at the North American X-15

The North American X-15 is a true marvel of aviation history –a pioneering hypersonic research aircraft that pushed the boundaries of aeronautical engineering in the 1960s. This rocket-powered plane ...
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Restoring the Museum’s V-1 Missile

A little over a year ago, I recounted the restoration of our German V-2 ballistic missile. Now the Preservation and Restoration Unit at our Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is completing its compatriot, ...
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A New Look for a New Military Service: General Raymond’s U.S. Space Force Uniform

When Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond reported to the Pentagon for his first day as Chief of Space Operations for the United States Space Force (USSF) in 2019, he began the process of standing up the first ...
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WWII Ace Arthur Van Haren Jr.

On June 19, 1944, as United States and Japanese forces engaged one another during the Battle of Saipan in the Mariana Islands, the VF-2 fighter squadron from the USS Hornet flew numerous missions to ...