Airspace

Back in the 'Golden Age' of air travel in the 50s, 60s and 70s going on a trip in an airplane was an event. On those flights you would often get a little souvenir of your air travel; a deck of cards, a little toy, a trading card, captain's wings and a hat for your little tyke. It was a way for you to show off to your friends and for the airline to keep themselves top of mind for your next airline purchase. Like a lot of things from the era, deregulation came along in 1978 and completely changed the flight experience. Now that an airline can offer you a cheap ticket, they're not trying to get your business through tchotchkes. But! There are still some airlines giving out swag. Some of it you have to pony up for first class and some of it you have to ask for. We asked for it (because the AirSpace budget sadly doesn't include first class tickets).Thanks to our guest in this episode:Bob Van der Linden — Curator of Air Transportation, National Air and Space MuseumFind the transcript hereSign up here for the monthl

Over six missions, the Apollo astronauts collected and brought back 842 pounds of Lunar samples. Most of those Moon rocks were put aside for science, but some were earmarked for things like touch rocks (like we have at NASM) or educational disks (which you might have seen if you had a particularly cool science teacher growing up) and to countries and states as diplomatic gifts. But who decides what rocks go where? And how in the heck did the National Cathedral get a rock to put in a stained glass window??Thanks to our guests in this episode: Dr. Ryan Zeigler-Lunar Sample Curator, NASA Johnson Space Center Dr. Cari Corrigan- Curator of Antarctic Meteorites, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Elody Crimi - Photo Curator, Washington National Cathedral Archives  Find the transcript hereSign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter

Our conversation with Jack Black and his brother Neil Siegal about their Mother, Judith Love Cohen was too good just to give you just the taste from the end of our Star Search episode. Here's the extended producers cut with everything from Jack's birth story, to being an engineer in the 70s, to Judy's 2nd career as a book publisher.Thanks to Jack Black and Neil Siegal for sharing their memories about their Mom.Find the transcript hereSign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter

There are a lot of air and space celebrities; pilots, astronauts, engineers, etc etc. But there's another category of celebrities that are famous for other things but also have surprising ties to air or space. Today we're talking about three of those; a famous tv chef who also helped create a shark repellant for aviators and spacecraft, an actor from Hollywood's golden years who invented the basis for wifi, and an aerospace engineer who worked on Apollo and more--and also has a pretty famous kid. Stay tuned to the end for a special celebrity guest. Thanks to our guests in this episode: Paula Johnson, Curator of Food History-Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Dr. Andrew Meade McGee, Curator of Computing-National Air and Space Museum Dr. Teasel Muir Harmony, Curator of the Apollo Program-National Air and Space Museum Dr. Neil Siegal and his brother, Jack Black Find the transcript hereSign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter

When the Chandra X-Ray Observatory launched 25 years ago, it showed us our universe in a whole new light (literally). From the remnants of exploded stars to Jupiter's auroras, Chandra has shown us so many beautiful and scientifically important sights. Even after a quarter decade this unique telescope is still giving us new data about black holes and whirling neutron stars and all the things out in space that give off x-rays. Thanks to our guest in this episode: Dr. Daniel Castro - Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Megan Lin - Chandra X-Ray Observatory Flight Operations Team Lead Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter

The city of Roswell, New Mexico is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Out in the dessert west of Texas, this small oasis in the dessert was first home to indigenous peoples, then cowboys, ranching and farming and then the military before becoming the crash site of a possible UFO in 1947. That story took on a life of it's own and by the time the Army came out with an official explaination in 1997, the myths had stuck. Today, Roswell is still a farming and ranching community but 'the incident' as it's known bred a tourism economy based on aliens. From the flying saucer McDonalds, to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, and the annual UFO festival; Roswell is a unique space-y destination all its own.We're joined by Dr. Emily Margolis, Curator of Contemporary SpaceflightThanks to our guests in this episode: Jan Dunnahoo- Roswell historian Juliana Halvorson- Roswell City Councilor Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletterAirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Sci-fi is full of giant ships full of humanity living and dying and reaching out to new places far far away. Usually, these are called generations ships. And they rely on well, generations. But today in science-fact there's so much more about reproducing in space that we don't know than the small amount that we do. And as we get closer to commercial space travel that might include honeymooning on the moon, we kind of need to figure out what's going to happen with pregnancies that are a little extra-terrestrial in origin. Space sex ed is now in session!Thanks to our guest in this episode:Dr. Alex Layendecker, Director-ASRISign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletterAirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick was 15 years old when she first jumped out of a hot air balloon with a parachute in 1908. Over the next 14 years she would make over 1,000 jumps, first out of balloons and then as the first woman to jump from an airplane. Her talent and skill was sought after by the Army in WWI when they first started training their balloon and airplane pilots to use parachutes as a safety device. Tiny even accidentally invented the ripcord that's a staple in parachute design today. Her legacy stretches long, even if she's not as well known of a name as some in early aviation. We're exploring her life and legacy today on AirSpace. Thanks to our guest in this episode:Dr. Alex Spencer, Aeronautics Curator - National Air and Space MuseumSign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletterAirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

In the 1930s, rocketry was basically a joke among the scientific establishment in the U, but that didn't stop a rag tag group out of Pasadena from trying to build rockets. That group would first be known as The Suicide Squad (for all the dangerous experiments they conducted on campus) and later as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Over its first decade, the JPL story includes funding challenges, communist intrigue, brushes with the occult, building weapons, building engines and ultimately--building rockets. Buckle in, this one's a wild ride. Thanks to our guests in this episode: Fraser MacDonald, Author, Escape from Earth: A Secret History of the Space Rocket Erik Conway, JPL Historian Interview with Frank Malina from the Caltech Archives and Special Collections Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

AirSpace will be back in two weeks with brand new epsiodes. In the meantime, enjoy this episode from our friends at the podcast, This is Love. When twin rovers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars twenty years ago, they were only supposed to last 90 Martian days. But years passed, they were still alive, and engineers kept taking care of them. “I remember telling myself, ‘Please don’t die, Opportunity. Please don’t die.’” Find more information about this episode here. AirSpace is from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

While we get Season Nine ready for you, we turned to our friends at Sidedoor to bring you a story of running and running and running and running…in Space! We’ll let them take it from here: Until the 1970s, women were barred from competing in U.S. marathons because of the belief that the "violent movements" of running would wreak havoc on their reproductive system, "thus defeating a woman’s true purpose in life, i.e., the bringing forth of strong children." Through a series of steps, stumbles—and one epic tackle—running pioneers like Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb and Kathrine Switzer blazed the trail for women marathoners who followed, including Sunita Williams—the first person to run the Boston Marathon in space! Sunita Williams, astronaut Jennifer Levasseur, curator, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Peter Sagal, marathoner; host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Bobbi Gibb, first woman to run the Boston Marathon Kathrine Switzer, first women to officially run the Boston Marathon — Sign up here for

You’ll have new AirSpace episodes soon, but since they may have found Amelia Earhart’s plane(!!!) we thought we’d revisit our episode on her and Eleanor Roosevelt’s somewhat unlikely friendship. On a spring evening in 1933, Amelia Earhart took first lady Eleanor Roosevelt on a joyride. Imagine two women—dressed for dinner at the White House (white gloves and all)—stealing away from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave to pilot and co-pilot a nighttime flight to Baltimore. On this episode of AirSpace, we’re detailing the high-flying friendship of these two women – from their shared background as social workers to their mutual love of flight and advocacy of women’s empowerment and social justice. Amelia and Elanor took the business of being role models seriously, leading by example and using their influence to elevate important societal issues. Talk about an influencer power couple! Thanks to our guests who helped us contextualize their history and friendship – biographers Allida Black and Susan Butler. AirSpace is made po

As we look forward to the upcoming total solar eclipse over North America, AirSpace is looking back in time to a much much older eclipse. In 1142 a total solar eclipse with much the same path as the one coming up April 8. It was also the sign in the sky the Seneca needed to join the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a representative democracy that would govern six tribes below Lakes Erie and Ontario. Before a 1997 journal article, Western Historians insisted the eclipse that decided the Seneca happened much later in the 15th or 16th century. We talk to one of the authors of the paper about the tradition, evidence, and astronomy behind the more accurate date. Thanks to our guest in this episode: Dr. Barbara Alice Mann, Professor Emerita-University of Toledo Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Did you know that it takes the Earth 365-ish days to orbit the sun? It’s that ‘ish’ that makes February 29 a thing every four years. We talk to one of the Museum’s astronomy educators to get the low down on Leap Day. Thanks to Astronomy Educator Shauna Brandt Edson for joining Emily for this episode. Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Afrofuturism is a cultural movement that explores the possibilities of Black futures and pasts and presents through art, literature, music, film and pop culture. And a lot of Afrofuturism has a lot of space in it. Today we're talking about Afrofuturist space and Afronauts and walking through the Afrofuturism exhibit by our friends at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Thanks to our guests in this episode: Dr. Kevin Strait, Curator National Museum of African American History and Culture Tim Fielder, Author and Artists Matty’s Rocket Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Hollywood is in love with airports and airplanes and we are too! How many rom-coms can you name where the meet cute, the almost meet, the epic chase or the long distance relationships happens thanks to a terminal or twist of fate seat assignment? We can name at least six. And if we missed your favorite, drop us a comment on Instagram or Twitter! Thanks to our guest in this episode: Scott Meslow, Author From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of the Romantic Comedy Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

From when it started in 1981, MTV used an iconic neon scribbled astronaut as its channel ID for years. And even today the award you get when you win a VMA is a statuette of an Apollo era astronaut, but why is MTV obsessed with the Moonman? And why do we have two of those statuettes in our collection? We're digging into the history of cable's giant leap, today on AirSpace Thanks to our guest in this episode: Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, National Air and Space Museum Space History Chair Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in the Caribbean but in 2017, the season was so bad that it changed everything for the people of Puerto Rico. Only two weeks after another major hurricane, Maria barreled into the island bringing more than 200 mile per hour winds, rain and flooding. In the aftermath, the Coast Guard with their helicopters are crucial to search and rescue, aid drops and surveying damage. We spoke to two Coast Guard members, as well as one of our own colleagues, about what the hurricane was like, and what happened after. We’re joined by Vanessa Parés, Digitization Coordinator NASM Thanks to our guests for this episode: Captain Ed Aponte, U.S. Coast Guard Avionics Technician First Class Mari DeLong, U.S. Coast Guard Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

In January 1942 a B-314 flying boat operated by Pan American World Airways landed in New York after making arguably the first around the world flight by a commercial airliner. But when they set out from San Francisco in 1941, they never intended to hold that record. Trapped in the Pacific by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Captain Bob Ford and his crew were forced to return home flying west. It took them more than a month and several tight spots to get their important aircraft back to the U.S. Thanks to our guest in this episode: Ed Dover, former Pan Am Radio Operator and Author of The Long Way Home: A Journey into History with Captain Robert Ford Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

In a lot of political and financial circles space exploration is often talked about in terms of human space exploration VERSUS robotic space travel. But most scientists and engineers who work on space missions think this question is better answered with a yes, and. We're diving into the pros, cons and uses of both human and robotic space exploration today on AirSpace. We’re joined by Dr Erica Jawin, Postdoctoral Research Geologist at NASM’s Center for Planetary Studies Thanks to our guests for this episode: Dr Brett Denevi, Geology Lead Artemis III, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab Bobak Ferdowsi, Systems Engineer on Robotic Space Missions Sign up here for the monthly AirSpace newsletter AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.