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National Air and Space Museum
@airandspace
Sharing inspiring stories, moments of awe, and one-of-a-kind artifacts from aviation and space history. Start exploring: airandspace.si.edu ✈️ 🚀 🪐
Smithsonian, Washington DCs.si.edu/legalJoined May 2008
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399.2K Followers

National Air and Space Museum’s posts

National Air and Space Museum
@airandspace
Congratulations to
@SpaceX
on today’s launch of Starship, the tallest & most powerful rocket ever launched! 🚀 Although Starship experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” before stage separation, the test provided good data to the Starship team to prepare for the next one.
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SpaceX
@SpaceX
Liftoff of Starship!
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National Air and Space Museum
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No more crop you say? Well then, we’ll just go ahead and let this shot of Earth and the Moon in the same frame hang here for a bit. Voyager 1 took the image, captured from 7.25 million miles away, in 1977.
Earth and the Moon in a single frame, captured by Voyager 1 spacecraft
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"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives." - Carl Sagan On this day in 1990, Voyager 1 took the iconic Pale Blue Dot image.
Pale Blue Dot image that shows Earth as a very small dot in a vertical color band
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"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives." - Carl Sagan On this day in 1990, Voyager 1 took the iconic Pale Blue Dot image.
Photo of space, with colorful stripes, and a tiny dot of Earth in one of those stripes.
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@airandspace
We are sad to learn of the passing of Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on #StarTrek. She was an inspiration to many, not just for her groundbreaking work on Star Trek but also through her work with NASA to recruit women and people of color to apply to become astronauts.
Nichelle Nichols playing Lt. Uhura on Star Trek
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We mourn the passing and celebrate the life and legacy of a pilot who truly had the right stuff, General Chuck Yeager. In 1947, Yeager broke the sound barrier and proved that we can always keep pushing further and faster.
Chuck Yeager standing in front of Bell X-1.
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@airandspace
.
@taylorswift13
, we're a little concerned with you staring directly at the Sun (but never in the mirror). If you do a show in DC, we'd love to show you how to safely observe with a special solar telescope. We could even bring one to the show!
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Carla Hayden
@LibnOfCongress
We’ll sweeten @chefjoseandres’ offer with a visit and tour of the @librarycongress. @taylorswift13 as you probably have heard we have an amazing music collection. Come see us in Washington. 🙏🏽 twitter.com/chefjoseandres…
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@airandspace
Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard took his first steps on the lunar surface today in 1971. It was an incredible next step after becoming the first American in space ten years earlier. Shepard was the only Mercury astronaut to walk on the Moon.
Alan Shepard in a spacesuit walks on the Moon in the shadow of the lunar module.
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┏┓ ┃┃╱╲ in ┃╱╱╲╲ this ╱╱╭╮╲╲house ▔▏┗┛▕▔ we ╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲ use "crewed" ╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲ ▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔
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Voyager 1 captured this picture while looking back at Saturn just a few days after its closest approach to the ringed planet. The approximate distance at the time of the shot was 3.3 million miles when it was captured on November of 1980.
Voyager 1 captured this picture while looking back at Saturn just a few days after its closest approach to the ringed planet. The approximate distance at the time of the shot was 3.3 million miles.
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@airandspace
We hope our Twitter feed brings you moments of joy and inspiration during these uncertain times. So, every day in April, we’re going to post an incredible space photo that brings us awe. (And we’d gladly take recommendations!) We'll start with a
@NASAHubble
classic. 🎆
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Michael Collins' humility is captured in the Apollo 11 mission patch. He designed it to represent the thousands who worked toward a lunar landing, not just the astronauts, and it remains one of the only NASA mission patches without the names of the crew.
Apollo 11 mission patch
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On this day in 1969, the Apollo 10 astronauts began their return journey from the Moon back to Earth in command module "Charlie Brown." This photo of Earth rising above the lunar horizon was taken during the mission.
Earthrise over the surface of the Moon
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They say pictures are worth a thousand words, but sometimes they leave you speechless. On this day in 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless made the first untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
Bruce McCandless floats in spacesuit and MMU
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Remembering the crew of Challenger STS-51L. On this day in 1986, the launch of STS-51L ended in tragedy when Challenger and crew were lost 73 seconds after liftoff. Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair.
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Last night, we awarded NASA flight director Gene Kranz the 2021 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement. Kranz's legendary career began in the U.S. Air Force and then took him to NASA mission control, from Project Mercury through the Shuttle Program. #CollinsTrophy
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Today in 1966, Buzz Aldrin took "the first space selfie." The game-changing picture was taken during his first stand-up spacewalk of Gemini XII, and after photographing landmarks on Earth. “Okay, tell everybody down there to smile” Aldrin said right before he snapped away.
November 12, 1966: Buzz Aldrin took "the first space selfie." The game-changing picture was taken during his first stand-up spacewalk of Gemini XII, and after photographing landmarks on Earth. “Okay, tell everybody down there to smile” Aldrin said right before he snapped away.
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Patricia Cowings researched psycho-physiological and biological problems (space sickness) experienced by astronauts in space in the early 1980s. She designed a program that enabled astronauts to learn how to control the sickness in no longer than six hours! #BlackHistoryMonth
Image of Patricia Cowings sitting on a stool in a white lab coat and looking directly at the camera.
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15 years ago today, New Horizons took these photos of a 200-mile-high plume erupting from Io's Tvashtar volcano. Io, a moon of Jupiter, is one of only a few planetary bodies in the solar system other than Earth known to exhibit active volcanism.
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Take a look at this timelapse showing Voyager 1’s view of Jupiter. Today in 1979, Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter, flying within 172,000 miles of its cloud tops. This timelapse is from earlier that year.
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Remembering the crew of STS-51L: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair On this day in 1986, the launch of STS-51L ended in tragedy when Space Shuttle Challenger and crew were lost 73 seconds after liftoff.
Seven astronauts in blue flight jackets posed for a picture.
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Ganymede's closeup 📸 A year ago, NASA's Juno spacecraft flew within 645 miles of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. This flyby is the closest we have gotten to the largest moon in our solar system since a flyby by the Galileo spacecraft in 2000. JunoCam captured this image of Ganymede.
A closeup image of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
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Remembering the crew of Apollo 1. On this day in 1967, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee perished in a fire during a pre-launch test for what was to be the first crewed Apollo mission.
Three astronauts in flight suits pose for a photo outside.
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On this day in 1966, Gemini VIII launched, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. It was the first spaceflight for both Armstrong and Scott, who would each go on to command an Apollo mission to the Moon.
Two astronauts in white spacesuits walk and wave to the crowd
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Remembering the crew of STS-107. On February 1, 2003, the seven-astronaut crew was lost when Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry. David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, and Ilan Ramon were on board.
Crew portrait with seven astronauts in orange flight suits.
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Remembering the crew of STS-107. On February 1, 2003, the seven-astronaut crew was lost when Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry. David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, and Ilan Ramon.
Crew portrait with seven astronauts in orange flight suits.
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Happy Moon Landing Day! Today in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. This photo shows both astronauts on the Moon, with Armstrong reflected in the visor of Aldrin's helmet.
Astronaut standing on the Moon
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Happy Moon Landing Day! Today in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. This photo shows both astronauts on the Moon, with Armstrong reflected in the visor of Aldrin's helmet.
Astronaut in Apollo spacesuit standing on the Moon. Another astronaut and part of the lunar module are reflected in the gold visor of his helmet.
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On this day in 1990, our Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird had a last flight befitting its incredible career, setting a new speed record while flying from LA to DC in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kph (2,124 mph).
SR-71 Blackbird in flight
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We mourn the loss of Annie Glenn — an inspirational voice to many of us over the years. She was a source of strength to her husband John during his time in the space program and US Senate, overcoming challenges and become an American hero in her own right.
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We join in honoring the memory of mathematician Katherine Johnson, who passed away today at age 101. Starting with aircraft in 1953, through projects Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the Space Shuttle, she supported NACA and NASA missions.
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Remembering the crew of STS-51L. The launch of STS-51L ended in tragedy when Space Shuttle Challenger and crew were lost 73 seconds after liftoff—today in 1986. Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair were on board.
Seven astronauts in blue flight jackets posed for a picture.
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50 years ago today, at the end of their second EVA (extravehicular activity), the Apollo 15 astronauts set up an American flag on the Moon. A crossbar at the top gives the flag the appearance of flying in the wind. #Apollo50
Astronaut stands next to American flag on the Moon, saluting
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