AirSpace
AirSpace
National Air and Space Museum
50 Years: New Ideas
24 minutes Posted Jul 23, 2026 at 8:00 am.
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Show notes
As the National Air and Space Museum built its collection and its identity, it also needed to find its footing as a place for science and research. In the third episode of our four-part limited series “50 Years of Air + Space,” we’re exploring the history of scholarship at the Museum. We’ll dive into early debates over what type of research this new Museum would do and what type of academics would be a part of the team. We also hear the stories of how we came to host the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, and how the study of the history and culture of aerospace became core to our mission.
Thanks to our guests in this episode:
Dr. Ted Maxwell, Retired Chair of CEPS
Dr. Mike Neufeld, Retired Curator and Smithsonian Historian
Dr. Cathleen Lewis, Curator
Dr. Tom Crouch, Curator Emeritus and Smithsonian Historian
Find the transcript for this episode and more information at https://s.si.edu/50YearsEp3
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AirSpace is made possible with the generous support of Lockheed Martin.