Technology & Innovation

This exhibition surveys the history of America's military from the Colonial Era to the present day, exploring how wars have been defining episodes in American history. Through more than 800 artifacts, images, and interactive stations, the .... 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.

This display case celebrates the history and endurance of American lunch boxes. Reaching the height of their popularity at the dawn of the television era, lunch box sales became barometers for what was hip in popular culture at any point 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.

General aviation refers to flights not flown by commercial carriers or the military; it includes everything from personal to business flying, air taxi, sightseeing tours, and life-saving medical flights and accounts for the vast majority of .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.