The National Air and Space Museum was founded in 1946 under the name National Air Museum. The first major artifact added to the museum's collection was the biplane used for the Wright brothers (Wright, Wilbur and Orville)' first successful flight in 1903. In 1966 the museum began collecting items from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions as well as more historical objects, and its name was changed to the National Air and Space Museum. The museum moved to the Mall (Mall, the) in 1976. It displays many famous artifacts of flight, including Charles Lindbergh (Lindbergh, Charles A.)'s Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell XS-1 that Chuck Yeager (Yeager, Chuck) used to break the sound barrier for the first time, the Apollo 11 (Apollo program) command module, and a sample of lunar rock.

Because the museum on the Mall was able to display only a small part of the collection at one time, a second facility was opened in 1993, located at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, just outside of the District of Columbia. Named for aviation businessman and major donor Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, the Udvar-Hazy Center was built to simulate an air hangar, allowing for a large exhibition space. The facility displays larger artifacts, including a Concorde (the first supersonic transport) and the space shuttle Enterprise.