Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall

This exhibition celebrates some of the most significant airplanes, rockets, and spacecraft in history. They tell tales of ingenuity and courage, war and peace, politics and power, as well as society and culture.

July 1, 2016 – March 27, 2022

Air and Space Museum

The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age

This exhibition presents the Wrights' technical achievements and examines the cultural impact of early powered flight.

October 11, 2003 – March 27, 2022

Air and Space Museum

Moving Beyond Earth

Explore the achievements and challenges of human spaceflight in the United States during the space shuttle and space station era.

November 19, 2009 – March 27, 2022

Air and Space Museum

Explore the Universe

Learn what scientists think our universe is like, how the present scientific view of the universe came to be, how our universe is being shaped today, and what mysteries remain.

September 21, 2001 – March 27, 2022

Air and Space Museum

Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There

This exhibition reveals why a good clock is crucial to navigation and how increasingly accurate timekeeping has influenced how we find our way.

April 12, 2013 – March 27, 2022

Air and Space Museum

Space Race

This exhibition traces the competition in space between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union from its origins in the 1950s to the recent international cooperation.

May 16, 1997 – March 27, 2022

Air and Space Museum

50 Years from Tranquility Base

This case, installed for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, contains artifacts from that historic journey.

March 25, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Air and Space Museum

How Things Fly

This interactive gallery explains the basic principles of air and space flight through hands-on activities.

September 20, 1996 – March 13, 2020

Air and Space Museum

Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Spacesuit

Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing is on display for the first time in 13 years in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

July 16, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Air and Space Museum

Voyager: Around the World without a Pit Stop

On December 23, 1986, Voyager completed the first nonstop, non-refueled flight around the world.

November 1, 1987 – October 15, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery

This gallery features famous "firsts" and record-setting aviators during the 1920s and '30s.

November 19, 2010 – October 15, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Early Flight

This re-created indoor aeronautical exhibition (circa 1913) highlights the early history of the airplane from antiquity through the first decade of powered flight.

March 26, 1980 – July 8, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Exploring the Planets

This exhibition highlights the history and achievements of planetary exploration, both Earth-based and by spacecraft.

November 7, 1978 – July 8, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

On view six modern military UAVs that represent a variety of missions and technologies.

April 24, 2008 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

The Golden Age of Flight

Americans were wild about aviation in the 1920s and '30s, the period between the two world wars that came to be known as the Golden Age of Flight.

April 5, 1984 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Sea-Air Operations

The focus of this gallery is overwater flight, including aircraft carrier operations from 1911 to the present.

July 1, 1976 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Jet Aviation

This gallery illustrates the first 40 years of jet aviation (1939-1979), including the evolution of commercial and military jet aircraft.

July 1, 1981 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Legend, Memory, and the Great War in the Air

This gallery features the emergence of air power in World War I and contrasts the romance of aerial combat with the reality.

November 13, 1991 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

World War II Aviation

The story of World War II is too big for a single gallery, so this one focuses on land-based fighter aviation.

July 1, 1976 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

America by Air

This exhibition traces the history of commercial air transportation in the U.S. from 1914 to today and discusses how technological innovations have revolutionized air travel.

November 17, 2007 – January 2, 2019

Air and Space Museum

Apollo to the Moon

This gallery traces NASA's manned space program beginning with Project Mercury's Freedom 7 (5/5/61); then the Gemini Project (1965-66); followed by the Apollo Program (1967-1972), with Apollo 17 as the last manned exploration of the moon.

July 1, 1976 – December 2, 2018

Air and Space Museum

Looking at Earth

This gallery traces the development of technology for viewing Earth from balloons, aircraft, and spacecraft.

May 8, 1986 – December 2, 2018

Air and Space Museum

Artist Soldiers: Artistic Expression in the First World War

This exhibition examines artistic expression in WWI by first-hand participants, both official art by commissioned AEF combat artists, and spontaneous works by individual soldiers.

April 6, 2017 – November 11, 2018

Air and Space Museum

2001: A Space Odyssey Immersive Art Exhibit

Immerse yourself in “The Barmecide Feast,” a fully realized, full-scale reflection of the iconic, neo-classical hotel room from the penultimate scene of Stanley Kubrick’s and Arthur C. Clarke’s landmark film.

April 8, 2018 – May 28, 2018

Air and Space Museum

A New Moon Rises: New Views from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera

A New Moon Rises showcases breathtaking images from Apollo landing sites to majestic mountains that rise out of the darkness of the lunar poles.

February 26, 2016 – January 10, 2017

Air and Space Museum