The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has captured dramatic landscapes of the Moon since it was first launched in 2009. A New Moon Rises showcased those breathtaking images from Apollo ...

Even before the Wright brothers' first successful flight in 1903, humans took to the sky. The desire to fly is both ancient and universal. It is an essential element in our oldest stories of gods and ...

The Rheintochter (Rhine Maiden) R I was an experimental German two-stage antiaircraft missile tested in the last year of World War II. Built by the Rheinmetall-Borsig company for the Luftwaffe, it was ...

The reconnaissance balloons from the Moby Dick program floated with the winds and were retrieved after passing beyond Soviet borders. Only 44 were successfully recovered.

World War I made the airplane—a recent invention—essential in war and peace. The conflict, which raged from 1914 to 1918, laid the foundation for military aviation. It was a decisive test for emerging ...

David Desbordes is a native Washingtonian. He attended Howard University in the school year 1975-1976. He was awarded a candidacy through that University’s ROTC Program to USAFA. He graduated in 1980 ...

In 1920 Clayton J. Bruckner, Elmwood "Sam" Junkin, and Buck Weaver formed an aircraft company known as the Weaver Aircraft Company in Troy, OH. By the 1930s the company, known as Waco Aircraft Co.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of one Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) Flight Manual for the Grumman F-14A Tomcat obtained by Frederick Nassauer, Sr.

From the moment the Wright Brothers first took flight in 1903 to the modern-day reliance on stealth aircraft and drones, there have been significant advances made in aviation. Milestones of Flight ...

The Wright brothers designed and constructed the world's first practical fixed-pitch propeller and developed the aerodynamic theory to calculate its performance during the process of creating their ...

Support the Museum We rely on the generous support of donors, sponsors, members, and other benefactors to share the history and impact of aviation and spaceflight, educate the public, and inspire ...

The Laser Ranging Retroreflector is a device that reflects light so that the paths of the reflected rays are parallel to those of the incident rays. Instruments placed on the lunar surface were used ...