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| Exhibitions | |
 Featured: Pictured in the banner above is the Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL, the technology demonstrator for the F-35 Lightning II, a stealthy, supersonic, multi-role fighter. The jet is part of the Modern Military Aviation collection at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Other aircraft in the exhibit include the Soviet jet fighter MiG-21 (left), a Grumman F-14(D) Tomcat, and a Republic F-105 Thunderchief. Modern Military Aviation covers the period from World War II to present.
Just Opened. Check out the new Time and Navigation website, which was posted to coincide with the opening of the Time and Navigation exhibition in the Museum in Washington, DC on April 12. |
| Feature Story from Air & Space Magazine |  NASA's Frequent Flier. Jerry Ross might be the most-traveled astronaut you've never heard of, having logged nearly 1,400 hours in orbit. He spoke with Air and Space magazine in March, reflecting on spaceflight past and future. |
| This Month in Aviation and Space History |  Forty-five years ago on May 6, Neil Armstrong ejected safely with seconds to spare from a malfunctioning Lunar Lander Research Vehicle (LLRV). In the LLRVs, astronauts were able to mimic landing the Lunar Module in the Moon's airless atmosphere. Watch a video of Armstrong's ejection.
The Museum in Washington, DC has a Lunar Module (LM 2), above left, on display in the Lunar Exploration Vehicles exhibition, and the remaining LLRV is on display at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California.
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| Test your Knowledge |  What does the acronym WAVES stand for? Answer |
| Great Read |  Analyzing Art and Aesthetics (Volume nine in the series Artefacts: Studies in the History of Science and Technology), edited by National Air and Space Museum space history curator Margaret Weitekamp and Anne Collins Goodyear, curator at the National Portrait Gallery. This book reconsiders how science, technology, art, and aesthetics impact one another. |
| Sole Survivors and One-of-a-Kinds |  The Piasecki-Venzie PV-2. Helicopter pioneer Frank Piasecki designed and cobbled together this remarkably stable and smooth helicopter as a small single-seat demonstrator, either as the basis for a production aircraft, or to generate contracts for other models. While Piasecki's small team of engineers came up with a sound design, finding actual components with little money and acute wartime shortages required expert scrounging skills. The airframe came from a discarded Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior and many of the engine accessories and transmission components were found in automotive dealerships or junkyards. Its first flight was in 1943, and Piasecki was its first test pilot. It is a one-of-a-kind.
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| New on the AirSpace Blog | |
The Flight Claims of Gustave Whitehead, by Aeronautics senior curator Tom Crouch
One Story, Two Museums: A Century of Alaska Aviation, by Aeronautics curator Jeremy Kinney
Mars Rover Discovers Chocolate on Mars, by writer-editor David Romanowski |
 In Your Neighborhood. Besides the Udvar-Hazy Center, there is another aviation museum in Virginia where you can see one of the National Air and Space Museum's airplanes -- the Virginia Aviation Museum at Richmond International Airport (formerly Byrd Field). Used by Virginia native Richard E. Byrd on his Antarctic expeditions, the Fairchild FC-2W2 Stars and Stripes flew mapping and general reconnaissance expeditions, as well as several rescue missions, between 1929 and 1935. |
 A Really Cool Photo. The North American F-100D Super Sabre was moved from the Udvar-Hazy Center's Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar to the Boeing Aviation Hangar early on the morning of April 4. Museum photographer Dane Penland took this photo that includes a jet landing at Washington Dulles International Airport silhouetted against the sunrise in the background. You can now view the fully assembled airplane in the north end of the hangar. For a behind-the-scenes look at the reassemby and move of the Super Sabre, view this Flickr set. |
 Astronaut Couch. To better withstand the "g" forces they would experience when launching into space, each Project Mercury astronaut had special form-fitted couches made for their bodies, which were used for "g" training in the centrifuge at the Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville, Pennsylvania. The couch in this photo was used by John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth, and is shown here in front of the Mercury Capsule 15B, Freedom 7 II in the Udvar-Hazy Center. |
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For more photos, search through the online collections imagery database. |
| Shop the SmithsonianStore.com |  Children's Book: Astronaut. Newly marked down to $4.98. Astronaut is a child-shaped board book that lets young ones envision themselves as astronauts when they grow up. Kids see themselves in Little People Shape Books' big, imaginative cover illustrations. Bright color illustrations are on every page. Closed, Astronaut has a three-dimensional effect. Open, the colorfully illustrated die-cut panels tell a story that is easy for beginning readers, yet direct enough for preschoolers when read aloud. Ages 4 to 7. |
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Family Day
Space Day: Living and Exploring in Space
Saturday, May 4, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Free, no tickets required
Space Day is made possible by the generous support of Lockheed Martin Corporation. |
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Exploring Space Lecture
Vesta in the Light of Dawn
Presenter: Carol Raymond
Tuesday, May 7, 8:00 pm
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Free, tickets required
This program is made possible by the generous support of NASA and Aerojet. |
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Telescopic Observing
Stargazing at the Public Observatory
Tuesday, May 7, 8:30 to 10:00 pm
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Free, no tickets required |
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Charles A. Lindbergh Memorial Lecture
Memoirs of a Triple Ace: Cold War Flight Testing
Col. Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson, USAF (Ret.)
Tuesday, May 21
7:00 pm - View Fighter Pilot, a free Imax film
8:00 pm - Lecture
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Free, tickets required
This event is made possible by the generous support of United Technologies Corporation. |
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New! Outdoor Concert
Music at the Museum: Summer Band Concerts
Sunday, May 26, 6:00 pm -- US Navy Band's "Commodores" (big band jazz)
At the Udvar-Hazy Center
Free; parking $15 but free after 4:00 pm
If it rains, the concert will be held indoors
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Recurring Activities
Super Science Saturdays
At the Udvar-Hazy Center
Every second Saturday. This month: May 11; Topic: Astronomy
This series is made possible by the generous support of FBR.
Telescopic Observing
Saturday Star Parties at Sky Meadows State Park
Variable schedule. This month: Saturday, May 11, 8:00 - 11:00 pm
Sky Meadows State Park near Paris, Virginia
"Flights of Fancy" Stories for Children
Both locations
Variable schedule
This event is made possible by the generous support of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
Ask an Expert Lectures
Both locations
Wednesday, Noon, at the Museum in Washington, DC
Second and fourth Thursdays, 12:30, at the Udvar-Hazy Center
Author Book Signings
Both locations
Variable schedule
Public Observatory
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Wednesdays through Sundays from Noon to 3:00 pm, weather permitting; see special nighttime viewings under "Events and Activities" above.
Imax Movies
Both locations
Variable titles, schedules, and prices
Albert Einstein Planetarium
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Variable titles and schedules; some shows are free |
| One Museum, Two Locations |
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 Museum in Washington, D.C.
6th & Independence, S.W.
Washington, DC
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 Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
14390 Air and Space Museum Pkwy.
Chantilly, Virginia
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Regular hours: every day from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. except December 25.
See the online schedule for extended spring/summer hours. Admission is free. Udvar-Hazy Center parking: $15, free after 4:00 p.m. For information call (202) 633-1000.
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