Invention & experiment
How we learned to fly
Follow the Wrights from a bicycle workshop to controlled flight, then compare two museums’ views of the first military airplane.
5 stops · About 15 minutes in Overview
Begin the journey →Museums, galleries & connected stories
Air & Space.
Discover the machines.
Meet the people.
Follow the story of flight.
Explore aviation and space across three museum locations. Choose a museum, step directly into a gallery, or follow the connections between them.
Choose a museum.
Three places. A shared story.
Step inside a gallery.
Choose any starting point.
20 tours available
National Mall
America by Air
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
Arrival
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
Cold War
Enter tour
National Mall
Destination Moon
Enter tour
National Mall
Early Flight
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
Early Years
Enter tour
National Mall
Exploring the Planets
Enter tour
National Mall
Futures in Space
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
Korea & Southeast Asia
Enter tour
National Mall
Milestones of Flight
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
Missiles and Space
Enter tour
National Mall
Nation of Speed
Enter tour
National Mall
One World Connected
Enter tour
National Mall
Pioneers of Flight
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
Special Collections & Museum Grounds
Enter tour
National Mall
The Wright Brothers: Invention of Flight
Enter tour
Udvar-Hazy
Udvar-Hazy Center
Enter tour
National Mall
We All Fly
Enter tour
National Mall
World War I Military Aviation
Enter tour
Air Force Museum
World War II
Enter tourNo galleries match that search.
The tours are connected, so you can continue exploring from one gallery to the next.
Looking for something specific?
Follow your curiosity.
Find an aircraft, a person, or a mission across the reading library.
Connected experiences
Service & remembrance.
Follow the human stories beyond the aviation galleries.
Follow your curiosity
One story can take you many places.
Begin with a short route through connected objects, people, and places. Open any stop in depth, or visit its panoramic setting.
Exploring the Planets & Udvar-Hazy
Robots on other worlds
Travel from a spacecraft built to pass distant worlds to robots designed to move across the surface of Mars.
4 stops · About 12 minutes in Overview
Begin the journey →
Service, rescue & remembrance
Bringing people home
Follow flight nursing and medical evacuation from the Air Force Museum to the Pentagon exhibit and the Military Women’s Memorial.
5 stops · About 15–20 minutes in Overview
Begin the journey →Two ways to read
A first look. A closer understanding.
Overview gives you the introduction. In depth opens the longer account, supporting images, and context. Sources and related stories are always within reach, and your reading choice follows you between stories and the connected aviation tours.
Next in the collection
The museum is still growing.
Five National Mall galleries are scheduled for photography. Three more gallery tours are planned. Each preview connects you with experiences available today.
How Things Fly
Explore the forces of flight and the engineering choices that make flight possible.
Preview the gallery plan →Living in the Space Age
Discover how space technology connects with life on Earth.
Preview the gallery plan →World War II in the Air
Explore the aircraft and people at the center of the Second World War's air campaigns.
Preview the gallery plan →Discovering Our Universe
Follow the instruments and observations that deepen our understanding of the universe.
Preview the gallery plan →Flight and the Arts
Discover how artists interpret the experience and imagination of flight.
Preview the gallery plan →At Home in Space
Explore the challenge of living and working beyond Earth.
Preview the gallery plan →Modern Military Aviation
Follow military aviation from the Cold War toward the present.
Preview the gallery plan →Innovations Gallery
A planned addition to the National Mall gallery collection.
Preview the gallery plan →These galleries do not yet have a virtual tour here. Photography and production proceed gallery by gallery; release dates will be added when confirmed.
Building connections and other planned coverage
Alongside the galleries, the Mall collection includes planned updates to the spaces that connect the visit.
- East End space · 112 — Planned coverage
- Launch Pad · Lower level — Planned coverage
- Lobbies and entrances · Including two exterior entrance views — Planned connections and updates
- Donor panels and changed displays · Across the Mall building — Planned updates
- IMAX Theater · Optional scope — Under consideration
An expanding public collection
A place to follow your curiosity.
The long-term ambition is a worldwide digital history of aviation and space: museum interiors, remarkable objects, and the people whose stories connect them.
The next stage is to seek access and collaboration with additional museums, adding photography and content with their permission. Future institutions will join the directory as participation is confirmed.
Browse freely, without an account or a headset. Share a story with a student, compare an aircraft with a fellow enthusiast, or return for a longer visit.