Space & Aviation

Explore Space & Aviation across the Smithsonian through stories, events, and exhibitions. Use the filters to browse by format, then bookmark events and exhibitions to keep track of what you want to visit or attend.

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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaking at a podium on the far left while three men sit at a long desk to the right.
The 14-day mission, slated for 2027, will serve as a test to see which company’s lunar lander performs better in low-Earth orbit. Both will practice docking, habitation and operational procedures essential for the return to the moon, planned for 2028
A metal bowl shaped object in the middle of a dry and empty cornfield.
The mysterious, shiny object has not been conclusively identified, but it might be space junk from a rocket built by the Chinese company LandSpace and launched on September 15. Metal pieces were also recently found in Borneo.
An artists rendering of a satellite with claws and a british flag design hovering over planet Earth.
The spacecraft is designed to drag two dead satellites into Earth’s atmosphere, where they are expected to disintegrate. The mission is slated to launch in 2029 and be completed by 2032.
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Space & Aviation
Art & Design
Van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting, depicting then night sky in vibrant blue and yellow twirls.
Very few night skies seen from the south of France during the summer of 1889 would match the scene on van Gogh’s canvas. A new study argues that it could have been July 22.
An outside view of a 1950s domed planetarium in multiple shades of tan.
Completed in 1958, the domed building is located on the campus of Florida Southern College, home to 13 Wright-designed buildings, the world’s largest single-site collection of the architect’s work.
An image of many stars and galaxies.
The universe formed 13.8 billion years ago, so this far-traveled burst of radio waves can help scientists learn more about the early cosmos. However, researchers still aren’t sure what produces these strange flashes.
Amelia Earhart smiling at a man while looking at a map with him in an airplane hangar.
A 17-person crew traveled to a remote atoll in the South Pacific to investigate the so-called Taraia Object. After surveying the site, the team announced that the anomaly was not a fragment of the long-lost Lockheed Electra aircraft.
The pink AirSpace logo is overlaid on an image of 3 world war two era green military fighter airplanes flying through the sky
Operation Mincemeat is a hit Broadway musical, and it’s based on a remarkable true mission that saved hundreds of lives and helped win World War II. This musical has everything you could want in a screwball comedy: spies, dead bodies, and more.