AirSpace

Latest Episodes:

The Journey of a Suitcase Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Have you ever wondered what happens to your checked bag once you've handed it over to the airline? Us too! We took a field trip to Dulles Airport to visit our friends at United Airlines and find out. Today on AirSpace, follow a suitcase on its journey from check-in through TSA, airline sorting, handling on the aircraft, and back to you on the baggage carousel.

Thanks to our guest in this episode:

Jim Decker, Director of Ramp Operations for United Airlines at Dulles International Airport

The transcript for this episode is at s.si.edu/airspaces11e2

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter at s.si.edu/airspacenewsletter.

AirSpace is made possible with the generous support of Lockheed Martin.

Eye of the Hurricane Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

SEEKING: full time aviators slash weather enthusiasts for unique opportunity. SCHEDULE: hurricane season. WORK SITE: Lakeland, FL; Biloxi, MS; and the eye of a hurricane. Members of the Air Force and NOAA Corps spend months each year flying back and forth through hurricanes collecting information vital to weather prediction. On the Season 11 premiere of AirSpace, we talk to three of them and get the download on what it takes to do that job.

Thanks to our guests in this episode:

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Withee, Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
Commander Kevin Doremus, NOAA Corps
Lieutenant Thomas Smith, NOAA Corps

The transcript for this episode is at s.si.edu/airspaces11e1.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter at s.si.edu/airspacenewsletter.

AirSpace is made possible with the generous support of Lockheed Martin.

AirSpace Bonus! There's More to That: Auroras Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

AirSpace will be back with Season 11 very soon. In the meantime we thought y'all would enjoy this episode from the Smithsonian Magazine's podcast, There's More to That: Why Auroras Are Suddenly Everywhere All at Once.

For millennia, auroras have both enchanted and haunted human beings. Ancient lore is filled with myths attempting to explain what caused the celestial phenomenon. More recent historic documentation of auroras may even help us predict damaging solar storms in the future.
As we head into a year expected to bring the best northern lights in two decades, we consider the science behind auroras and why they are suddenly so plentiful—even in places that hardly qualify as northern.
In this episode, Jo Marchant, author of The Human Cosmos, and Smithsonian science editor Carlyn Kranking revel in auroras through the ages and explain how to view these dazzling displays yourself.

Home Front: Anything-to-Anywhere Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

The Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) are relatively well-known in the U.S. today (to hear more about their story, see our previous episode), but they weren't the only women who flew planes in World War II. A small group of Americans joined pilots from 25 other countries in England's Air Transport Auxiliary, where they ferried hundreds of thousands of planes across the British Isles. Among the pilots were women from all countries and men too old or otherwise unfit for active duty (including a WWI Ace with only one eye and arm). They braved poor weather, mechanically iffy planes, regular bombings, and dangerous conditions to keep the Allies in the air.

Thanks to our guests in this episode

Becky Aikman, Author of Spitfires: The American Women who Flew in the Face of Danger During WWII
Richard Poad, organizer, Air Transport Auxiliary Museum at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre

Oral histories in the episode came from the NASA Oral History Project and the TWU Libraries Women's Collection at Texas Women's University.

The transcript for this episode is at s.si.edu/homefront4

AirSpace is made possible by generous support from Lockheed Martin

Home Front: Eyes on the Coast Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

Just off the coast of the United States, a menace lurked in the water. German U-boats were a very real problem for merchant vessels and war ships during World War II. With all available military airplanes and pilots needed on the front lines, and the Coast Guard mostly lacking aviation assets, the U.S. needed to get creative. Enter: the brand new Civil Air Patrol. This entirely civilian effort put private planes and pilots to work spotting U-Boats and other threats in the water. They even carried bombs on coastal patrols. The CAP also did search and rescue, medical flights, border patrol and more--roles the organization still serves today.

Thanks to our guest in this episode

Dr. Frank Blazich of the Civil Air Patrol and the Smithsonian's American History Museum

You can find the transcript for this episode at s.si.edu/homefront3

AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Lockheed Martin

Home Front: 50,000 Planes Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

In 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt broadcast a new goal in one of his famous Fireside Chats: he wanted to see 50,000 planes a year built in the United States. Up until that point, the U.S. had built just over 30,000 military planes . . . total. 50,000 seemed like an impossible goal. But with war looming, "Rosie" rolled up her sleeves and said "We can do it!" And she did. Millions of war workers flooded cities and factories to take jobs not open to them before the war, turning out plane after plane to support the war effort. Manufacturing, labor, and the aviation industry would never be the same.

Thanks to our guests in this episode

"Rosie" Erlinda Avila who bucked rivets in Goodyear, Arizona
Cory Graff, Curator and Restoration Manager- National World War II Museum
Dr. Jeremy Kinney, Associate Director for Research, Collections and Curatorial Affairs- National Air and Space Museum

Transcript for this epside is at s.si.edu/homefront2

AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Lockheed Martin

Home Front: Students of the Air Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

In 1937, there were fewer than 20,000 licensed pilots in the United States. The Civilian Pilot Training Program increased that number to more than 400,000 in less than five years. With national "airmindedness" as their goal in the run-up to World War II, the US government created the program to train students (10% of whom could be women) on the ground and in the air at colleges and universities across the country. Later on, trainees had to enlist after training, which meant women were barred. Throughout this limited series, almost every pilot we’ll meet either got their flight training with the CPTP, or taught for the program. Many of them would go on to find work in commercial aviation and reshape the field into the Jet Age.

Thanks to our guest in this episode

Dorothy Cochrane - National Air and Space Museum

Find the transcript of this episode at s.si.edu/homefront1

Home Front is made possible by the generous support of Lockheed Martin

AirSpace Revisited: Fly Girl Jul 24, 2025

Show notes

The Women's Airforce Service Pilots were a huge part of civilian aviation during WWII. Ahead of our new limited series, Home Front, we've brought back our season four episode. Episodes of Home Front start August 14th.

On this episode of AirSpace we’re spotlighting the heroic service and enduring legacy of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP. More than 1,000 of these fearless women flew as civilians for the Army Air Forces during World War II. These skilled pilots performed jobs on the home front – ferrying planes, towing targets, transporting personnel – flying almost every type of military aircraft. Yet despite filling a crucial wartime role, these women weren’t recognized as veterans for more than 30 years. And their campaign to be permitted burial in Arlington National Cemetery lasted even longer. In this episode, we’re welcoming our first ever guest host, historian and author Dr. Katherine Sharp Landdeck. And we’ll hear firsthand from three women connected to the WASP legacy, including a WASP herself, Nell “Mickey” Bright.

AirSpace Revisited: Dancing on the Ceiling Jul 10, 2025

Show notes

In just a few weeks, five brand new galleries are opening in the museum down on the mall, including galleries where we are once again hanging some (really big) things from the ceiling. We're revisiting this season eight behind-the-scenes episode to remind you just how they get up there.

AirSpace is looking up! (We know, we know, we're usually looking up what with the air and the space-ness of our podcast) But today we're exploring how we hang really big, priceless artifacts from the ceiling in the Museum. We asked two friends whose jobs are to do just that to talk to us about just what it takes to put airliners, spacecraft, X-wings and more up on the ceiling.

Thanks to our guests on this episode:

Tony Carp, Museum Specialist, National Air and Space Museum
Hannah O’Toole, Exhibit Designer, National Air and Space Museum

AirSpace Book Club: Milky Way Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

AirSpacers are watchers of movies, but we are also readers of books. In our inaugural Book Club we're reading The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy by Dr. Moiya McTier. This book is a non-fiction romp through the Milky Way's life (and future death) told from its perspective. How does the Milky Way feel about consuming other galaxies? Does watching us humans get boring? Can a galaxy be self-conscious about its black hole? Dr. Moiya explores these questions and more with personality, or should we say galaxality? Read along with the AirSpace book club.

Thanks to our Guest in this episode:

Dr. Moiya McTier, Author

Find the transcript at s.si.edu/airspaces10e12

AirSpace is created by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum with generous support from Lockheed Martin.

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