Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

Carrying the Fire

National Air and Space Museum acting director Christopher U. Browne reflects on the life and legacy of one of his predecessors, Apollo 11 astronaut and former Museum director Michael Collins.

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

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

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

The Moon: Before We Knew

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

Launching Hope to Mars