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.

438 results
Two person aircraft in the sky with a motor on each wing in white, blue, and red colors
Able to operate freely from nearly any place on earth, helicopters come closer than any other aircraft to achieving the birdlike freedom humanity has always envied. However, the same technology that makes this possible also prevents the . Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Permanent
The first X-35 fighter jet every built in a grey color with a two person cockpit
All the roles and missions of modern air power were defined during World War I and refined during World War II: maintaining air superiority, performing reconnaissance, providing close support for ground forces, ensuring logistical support, and . Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Ongoing
A long, yellow loon missile
In the 1920s, visionaries in the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere began developing liquid-fuel rockets with an eye toward space travel. Within a couple of decades, rockets and missiles had begun to alter the course of the. Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Permanent
A single-engine, single-seat, World War I biplane fighter with green, tan, brown, and black camouflage on the upper surfaces. There are light green-gray under surfaces.
The Wright brothers inaugurated the aerial age and helped fashion a radically new world with their historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The first glimpses of what that world would become are reflected in . Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Permanent
Small yellow aircraft with a big white wing on top
When British and French gliding enthusiasts tested gliders propelled by small engines in 1922, they created a new type of low-cost "ultralight" airplane. But the idea didn't get off the ground until 1975, when John K. Moody installed a 12½-. Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Permanent
Small white private jet with six wings
Companies of all sizes have turned increasingly to company-owned, chartered, or leased aircraft to fly their staff around the country or overseas. These business aircraft can fly into smaller, more convenient, less congested airports and flight. Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Permanent