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The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is the world's most popular museum, with more than eight million visitors each year. The museum houses a celebrated collection of airplanes, spacecraft, and other artifacts that document the history of aviation and spaceflight.This book presents 280 artifacts from the museum's collection and archives, chronicling some of the greatest technological and human achievements of the century.Milestones of flight such as the Wright 1903 Flyer, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, Earhart's Lockheed Vega, Yeager's Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis, and the historic craft that took American astronauts into space and brought them back from the Moon are all here. So, too, are lesser known but nonetheless important workhorses of commercial and military aviation history such as the Douglas DC-3, the North American P-51 Mustang, and the Piper J-3 Cub.The unusual, the fanciful, the prototypes, and even a few unsuccessful experiments are included in this remarkable journey through the skies and into space.Finally, this book features a special "behind the scenes" look at vintage and modern photographs, posters, paintings, and sculpture from the museum's archives and collection of art and popular culture.This fascinating Tiny FolioTM serves as an illustrated survey of the history of aviation and spaceflight, as well as an introduction to the museum's renowned collection.

Traces the development of the helicopter and vertical takeoff aircraft, describes key technological breakthroughs, and looks at the future of helicopters

Presents portraits and biographies of thirty-six women aviators and astronauts (view table of contents)

Five engineers analyze the technology developed by the Wright brothers and describe the challenges they faced in discovering the secret of flight