Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC ...

Explore some of the most pivotal aircraft from World War I and the technologies that supported them in the air.

Today, satellites are the battle fleet's keenest eyes. But during World War II, crews aboard lumbering flying boats provided distant, early warning of enemy ships and aircraft at sea. The Consolidated ...

Pratt & Whitney initiated design and development of the R-2800 Double Wasp, America’s first 18-cylinder radial engine, in 1936. With water injection and turbo-supercharging, the R-2800 produced more ...

The 1909 Wright Military Flyer is the world's first military airplane. In 1908, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sought competitive bids for a two-seat observation aircraft. Winning designs had to meet a ...

Physical Description Davis recoilless gun consisting of rifled steel tube barrel with hand grip and tiggers for firing both main round and Lewis gun, shoulder rest, and U-shaped support for post mount ...

Physical Description WWI British 112 lb RL Mk V bomb consisting of a steel tear-drop shaped body with a nose fuze, filling plug, and lifting lug, with four fins attached at rear and suppoerted by two ...

Explore the stories of innovative individuals who contributed to early flight at the National Air and Space Museum.

Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC. In ...

Most communications satellites have the same basic components, pointed out in this diagram: Solar cells and batteries to power the satellite systems Antennas to receive and transmit signals ...

Not Yet a Moon Shot Before Kennedy’s call to send a man to the Moon, the early years of the Space Race marked successes through headline making “firsts”: the first satellite, the first man in space, ...

After the competitive short-term goals of human spaceflight had been met in the 1960s, many advocates of space exploration envisioned a permanent human presence in space.