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National Air and Space Museum

Michael Collins, the Museum's third director, stands before the steel skeleton of the new National Air and Space Museum in July 1974.

Carrying the Fire

Michael Collins' NASA astronaut portrait.

Remembering Michael Collins

This view of Gemini VII from VI-A in December 1965 shows the spacecraft’s orbital configuration.

Gemini VIII’s Near-Disaster

The Perseverance captured this image of itself and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter days before its maiden flight. (NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ ASU/ MSSS/ Seán Doran)

The Wright Moment: Ingenuity Prepares for Flight

Eating canned food in space. (NASA)

I’ll have the Veal! Preservation with a Can-Do Attitude

Artist’s conception of the Perseverance rover sampling rocks on the floor of Jezero crater. The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter (not shown) that can fly in advance of the rover and scout out high priority rocks and outcrops for the rover to visit. (NASA)

Is There Life on Mars?

Alan Shepard on the lunar surface of the Moon during Apollo 14 mission. Photographed by Edgar D. Mitchell still inside Antares. (NASA)

Lessons from Apollo 14

Jack Schmitt picking up the gnomon after collecting samples. This view is to the west toward the Lee Lincoln Scarp. Apollo image AS17-140-21496.

Small Steps and Giant Leaps in the Apollo Lunar Landings

Perseverance Rover on Mars ( NASA Illustration)

Six Ways to Celebrate Perseverance This February

Carruthers holding one of the film cassettes that the astronauts brought back from the moon from his lunar camera/sectrograph. (NASA)

George Robert Carruthers: Astronautical Engineer and Astronomer

Two prominent lobate thrust fault scarps on Mercury, Discovery Rupes and Beagles Rupes, imaged by Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) on the MESSENGER spacecraft. Discovery Rupes (left), named for the ship HMS Discovery, shown here in a MDIS high-incidence angle image mosaic, was first imaged by Mariner 10 in the mid-1970’s. Beagle Rupes (right), a bow-shaped fault scarp, was initial imaged during MESSENGER’s first flyby.

Mercury, The Not So Shrunken Planet

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

A low-lying topographic depression known as Margaritifer basin. (Sharon A. Wilson, John A. Grant, and Kevin K. Williams (2020), Geologic Map of Morava Valles and Margaritifer basin, Mars, MTM Quadrangles -10022 and -15022, 1:500,000 scale, USGS Scientific Investigations Map, in press.)

Geologic Maps: Where Science Meets Art

The waxing gibbous Moon as we viewed it on December 3, 2011.

The Moon: Before We Knew

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Surface System Test-Bed (SSTB) is nearly identical to the MER twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity that landed on Mars in 2004. Photo by Mark Avino, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM2020-00501).

A Mars Rover Lands in Virginia

Artist's concept of Mars 2020 rover with sample tubes.

Why NASA Is Headed Back to Mars with Mars Rover Perseverance

The Hope spacecraft of the United Arab Emirates' Emirates Mars Mission during testing.

Launching Hope to Mars

Alma W. Thomas, Blast Off, 1970, acrylic on canvas, 74 x 54 inches

The Art of Alma W. Thomas: A Colorful Response

This American flag was left on the International Space Station by the crew of STS-135, the last space shuttle mission, with the intention of it being retrieved by the next crew to launch from American soil.

Launching Astronauts from American Soil: Why is it Important?

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley walk through Crew Access Arm in SpaceX spacesuits during a dress rehearsal for the first crewed SpaceX launch.

SpaceX Dragon Launch and Entry Suits

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