Space & Aviation

Astronomers spend much of their time mapping the universe, but until now their results have been collected and archived in so many different ways that the data can’t talk to each other.

In 2015, the Museum began a process of reimagining all its gallery spaces. A lot had changed since the Space Hall’s last major update in 1997. As a result, the Space Race exhibition was reimagined as the RTX Living in the Space Age exhibition.

The shiny objects—each roughly twice the size of a basketball—began to appear on July 3. Authorities initially worried that they were hazardous but have since determined that they’re likely safe bits of space junk.

New observations of WD 1856 b, a gas giant closely orbiting a white dwarf, offer a preview of what could happen to Jupiter and Saturn after the sun dies in about five billion years.

This November, visitors to the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles will get to see the “ready-to-launch” “Endeavour” complete with rocket boosters and a fuel tank.

50 years ago in 1976, a recent high school graduate walked through the doors of the brand-new National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall. Cathleen Lewis couldn’t have known that one day she would return, not as a visitor, but as .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

The pictures, on the competition’s shortlist, reveal the remarkable celestial objects that lie above our heads, both in deep space and closer to home.