Space & Aviation

This exhibition examines the critical role the postal system played in the creation of America's commercial aviation industry and features the pilots and early aircraft that made it possible, including a 1911 Wiseman-Cooke, a 1919 de Havilland .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

Human spaceflight is one of the great achievements of the modern age. Not content to master flight in the atmosphere, inventors, engineers, scientists, and visionaries pressed ahead to explore space and developed the technology for human .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

From the beginning of the Space Age, people recognized that Earth-orbiting satellites—able to see and communicate across vast distances—promised unique benefits. In the tense years of the Cold War, such spacecraft (known as applications .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

Space science is performed in Earth's upper atmosphere or beyond and covers disciplines from meteorology and geology to lunar, solar, and planetary science; astronomy and astrophysics; and life sciences. The objects on view include vehicles (.... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

Flying was new and daring in the early years of the 20th century and traveling by airplane was rare. Airlines, airliners, airports, air routes—none of these existed. But by century's end, you could travel to almost anywhere in America by air in.... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

Sport aviation is personal flying for pleasure. Sport pilots fly gliders, sailplanes, hang gliders, ultralights, homebuilts, and other types of aircraft. At the turn of the 21st century, Beechcraft, Cessna, Piper, and other companies were still.... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

In 1908, Wilbur Wright flew the first public exhibitions of a Wright Flyer in France, and it wasn't long before aviation meets began thrilling crowds of spectators with races, altitude records, climbing and diving, and dramatic turns. Today, .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

After World War II ended, the United States and the Soviet Union began competing in a global struggle pitting democracy against communism. Tensions between the two led to such "cold" confrontations as the Berlin blockade, the downing of an .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.