Technology & Innovation

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This major exhibition examines how transportation—from 1876 to 1999—has shaped our American identity from a mostly rural nation into a major economic power, forged a sense of national unity, delivered consumer abundance, and encouraged a degree.... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

This exhibition tells the history of the re-created, 2 1/2-story, Georgian-style house that stood at 16 Elm Street in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and five of the many families who occupied it from the mid-1760s through 1945. The exhibition explores.... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.

This exhibition of more than 900 objects, related to the individuals who have held the nation's highest office, explores the public, personal, ceremonial, and executive boundaries of the presidency. Composed of 11 thematic sections, the .... Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.