View a collection of digital museum resources about the Apollo program

Relive the Apollo 11 moon landing minute by minute

This interactive project lets you experience Apollo 11 in real time—listening to exchanges between the astronauts and NASA's Mission Control as they guided humanity's first journey to the lunar surface and safely home.

View an interactive collection of historical documents from the Viking project

This collection includes original mission bulletins, engineering and planning documents, and interview segments from more than 80 Viking team members who made the historic exploration of Mars’ surface by a lander possible.

The Apollo program built US space technology and showcased its Cold War dominance

Beyond landing humans on the moon for the first time, Apollo served to advance rocket engineering and guidance systems through crewed and uncrewed missions. By Apollo 15, the Lunar Roving Vehicle was developed and driven on the moon.

View 60 years of NASA space exploration

Established in 1958—a year after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has taken humanity into outer space and helped reveal the nature of the universe. Historic moments include the Apollo 11 mission putting humanity on the Moon and construction of the International Space Station.

Only 34% of Americans supported the Apollo program in 1967

After a fire killed three astronauts on the launchpad of Apollo 1, the public became ambivalent about funding the multibillion-dollar program until the successful moon landing in 1969. The landers alone cost $388M, while each spacesuit cost $100,000.

What was the Space Race?

​Want to know more about the Space Race? This article from the National Air and Space Museum dives into this intense Cold War competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Explore how the race transitioned from military rivalry to a quest for space exploration dominance, leading to milestones like the first satellite, Sputnik, and the iconic Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Explore a gallery of astronomical images curated by the European Space Agency

The collection includes illustrations and images of aurorae, planets, stars, galaxies, stellar nurseries, star clusters, exoplanets, quasars and black holes. Mission photography of astronauts, shuttles and telescopes is also featured.

Explore a timeline of advancements in American aviation

From the Wright brothers' flight of the first powered plane in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to SpaceX's debut of the Falcon 9 rocket in 2010 with reusable boosters, this interactive shows off the technological evolution of flight, from mechanical propulsion to ballistic spaceflight. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

A look at the foods eaten by astronauts during and after the space race

After John Glenn became the first American to demonstrate that eating in space was possible by eating apple puree out of a tube, meals were prepared for astronauts to meet an approximately 2,800-calorie-a-day requirement via freeze-dried foods. Meal quality gradually improved throughout the Apollo program, including the Apollo 8 crew's nondehydrated Christmas meal in 1968.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

A gallery of shots taken during the lunar flyby of Artemis 2

On April 6, 2026, the four-person Artemis 2 crew took photos of "earthset" and "earthrise" from the Orion spacecraft window during their lunar flyby. It was the first time humans had flown around the moon in over 50 years.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

A data visualization exploring six decades of spacewalks

Astronauts' initial small step for mankind may standout, but how many steps have we taken so far? Space and moonwalks further our understanding of spaceflight, celestial bodies, and space itself. Created to resemble a constellation map, this chart...

Take a virtual tour of the Space Shuttle

This interactive 3D experience allows users to navigate the Space Shuttle virtually, moving through the cockpit, crew cabin, airlock, and payload bay to view the vehicle's layout and systems from the inside.

A global list of every space exploration mission

Learn how and why we explore our solar system and beyond with space exploration missions, and find out how you can get involved.

Explore 'The Presidents' collection

PBS's "The Presidents" collection profiles America's leaders through award-winning documentaries, interviews, and archival footage. The series captures how each president reflected the nation's values, crises, and culture while shaping the office's power and legacy.

See shots of the Wright Flyer intact at the National Air and Space Museum

Since the museum’s opening in 1976, the wood-and-muslin plane has been available for public viewing with a model of Orville, the younger brother, lying on the plane’s mid-section.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

View a collection of historical documents about molecular biology's history

The collection features materials related to those involved in the discovery of DNA and provides historical context for the discoveries of RNA, various viruses, and important bioproteins. The items include photographs, business correspondence, manuscripts, and scientific instruments.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

The US space program was built on former Nazi expertise through Operation Paperclip

After WWII, the US secretly recruited over 1,600 German scientists, including ex-Nazis like Wernher von Braun. They repurposed V‑2 rocket technology to create NASA’s core capabilities—pivotal in the Saturn V and Apollo missions.

Explore an animated list of nine scientific breakthroughs funded by NASA, the NSF, and the NIH

Among the technologies made possible by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health were the CAPTCHA digital puzzles to block bots from accessing sites, the set of diabetes and obesity drugs that fall under the umbrella of GLP-1 receptor agonists, and various cordless appliances, including the handheld vacuum cleaner. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

A rich archive of the visual imagination of the Cold War era

The blog aggregates art, design, fashion, and technology from the atomic and space age, spanning mid-century American futurism and its Soviet counterpart. The content has a broad range: escape pods from a B-58 bomber sit alongside Tour de France caravan vehicles and unidentified industrial designs.

The crew of the ISS creates unique memorials for deceased colleagues

The continued human occupancy of the International Space Station since 2000 has led to the development of social and cultural elements by crew members, which the ISS Archaeology Project has catalogued. Records of handmade cakes, decorations, and memorabilia highlight the human aspect of living in space.

NASA plans to build a lunar-orbiting space station to support future missions to Mars

Planned for a 2027 launch, NASA Gateway is a lunar-orbiting space station meant to support Artemis lunar missions and future Mars travel. This resource includes an interactive 3D model of the proposed station's modules and layout.

A virtual tour of Philadelphia’s American Revolution Museum

Philadelphia’s Old City hosts one of the largest museums on the American Revolution. This virtual tour allows you to view the museum’s exhibits as if you were there by zooming in on descriptions, browsing images, and learning about artifacts, portraits, and more.

Mission specialist Ronald McNair was the second African American to fly in space

Growing up in Lake City, South Carolina, McNair described deep self-motivation as key to overcoming struggles in mathematics, having come from a family with no one having a background in mathematics or science. He credited his own curiosity and discipline developed through athletics—especially karate—with helping him build resilience.

Modern Marvels examines the Manhattan Project

This episode of the television program 'Modern Marvels' focuses on the Manhattan Project, combining archival footage and interviews with historians and scientists to shed light on one of the most ambitious military and scientific endeavors in human history.

Explore our favorite visualization of the immense scale of space, from an astronaut to the size of the observable universe

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.