National Air and Space Museum

NASA astronaut and Pilot Victor Glover launched from the International Space Station on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission. (SpaceX)

Five Things We Learned from Victor Glover

Discover what it's really like to live and work in space! Astronaut Victor Glover shares his thoughts and little-known facts about being an astronaut.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command talks on the phone as part of a video celebrating the NORAD Santa Tracker's 65th year.

Why NORAD Tracks Santa Claus

How did a misdialed phone number lead to a holiday tradition.

Chuck Yeager with Bell X-1. (NASM)

Remembering Chuck Yeager, a Pilot with the Right Stuff

The greatest pilot of the greatest generation has passed. Seventy-nine years to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, famed test pilot, World War II ace, and the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound, Brig. Gen. Charles “Chuck” Yeager, died at the age of 97.

The Doomsday Machine, a cone-shaped planet destroyer, from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966). (Image courtesy of CBS Television Studios)

My Favorite Classic Star Trek Episode

Archivist Mark Kahn became enamored of Star Trek back in the early 1970s, when it went into syndication after completing its three-year run on NBC in 1969. Many fans agree that the 1967-68 season produced some of the best episodes of the series, yet contrary to the opinion of most, he believes The Doomsday Machine is the best of them all.

Three-quarter left front view of Cessna BW-5 (r/n C6623, National Air Races race no. 98) on the ground, possibly at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, circa September 1928. Posed standing beside nose of aircraft are pilot Francis D.

Francis D. Bowhan: Osage Pilot

Francis Dawson, whose heritage was almost always included in newspaper coverage of his flights (usually with the generic term “Indian”) remains a name to be remembered in Osage County, Oklahoma.

A Type A-13A oxygen mask and Polaroid goggles were worn with this helmet during many flights in 1944-1946. Made by Stefan A. Cavallo, a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

Stefan A. Cavallo: Test Pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

During World War II, pilots evaluated a wide range of aircraft types for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Test pilot Stefan Cavallo’s flight trials were critical to successful operations during the war.

Informal classroom portrait of teacher Herbert Stephen Desind (1945-1992), wearing a reproduction Apollo-era spacesuit, holding an American flag; circa 1980s. Desind was a space flight aficionado, and his collection of photographs of aircraft and spacecraft was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1997. This image is part of the Herbert Stephen Desind Collection.

Herbert Desind: A Passion for Spaceflight

The Archives of the National Air and Space Museum holds three million images in various photographic formats, covering the breadth and depth of the history of aviation and space flight. One such collection is the Herbert Stephen Desind Collection, which covers the history of space flight and exploration.

Arthur C. Clarke poses for a photo while he sits at his desk, circa 1969.

Famous Correspondents of Arthur C. Clarke

Throughout his long life, famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke corresponded with numerous people. This blog examine the correspondents that Clarke had with Stanley Kubrick, rocket scientist and pioneer Wernher von Braun, and Irish fantasy author Edward Plunkett, who published under the name Lord Dunsany.

Screen capture of Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA) Overview page for the United States Women in Aviation 1940-1985 Research Materials collection in the National Air and Space Museum Archives.

So What’s Up with the SOVA? Accessing Digital Air and Space Collections on the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives

Part of the fun of research is getting elbow deep into the original documents that make up the collections of the National Air and Space Museum Archives. But we also understand that it is difficult for many researchers to make in-person visits to the Archives at the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. As an alternative, you can experience the NASM Archives (and other Smithsonian collections) anywhere through the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA)!

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