When the United States was lagging behind the Soviet Union in the race to space, the Soviet space agency announced plans to send women into space, which spurred American astronaut trainers to consider what might happen if they did the same. In the late 1950s, Dr. Randy Lovelace and General Donald Flickinger of the Air Force heard about how the Soviet Union was planning to send women cosmonauts into space. Their reasons were practical rather than political: women tended to handle stress better, w...
Jun 25, 2019•14 min
Our interview with NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, part of our series titled Failure is Not an Option, asks crowd sourced questions to reveal what life is like in space and how Dottie, as a woman astronaut, continues to inspire young women to pursue careers in STEM. Show Notes: As the first installment of our “Failure Is Not An Option” summer series—an ode to people who have pushed the boundaries of space exploration, our interview with Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger includes questions ...
Jun 11, 2019•17 min
Librarians for the King County Library System share their picks for the best aviation, space, and flight-related stories to read this summer. Check out their recommendations for your aerospace summer reading list! This week we sit down with Britta Barrett and Emily Caulkins from the King County Library System—which is the top library in the nation for circulating eBooks and downloads—to discuss their top picks for summer reading that include aviation and space-related themes. Britta and Emily al...
May 28, 2019•17 min
The Museum is hosting its own performance of the Moon Landing musical to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, and our very own Natalie Copeland explains why you need to see it. This summer we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 with a performance of Moon Landing, a musical written by Stephen Edwards. One of our very own Museum educators, Natalie Copeland, has taken on the task of cutting down the musical to fit a shorter timespan (75 minutes) so it can be seen by wider audiences ...
May 14, 2019•14 min
Air traffic control has come a long way since the early days of aviation in the 1930s, and our very own Helen Parker Wall takes us back to the technologies that evolved to create the current state of safe flying. Air traffic controller Helen Parker Wall discusses the technologies and incidents that prompted change in navigation and communication between the ground and the pilot to keep the skies and the runways safe. Before WWII, pilots and air traffic controllers relied on the triangulation of ...
Apr 30, 2019•11 min
First Korean astronaut SoYeon Yi tells that story of determination that took her from backup astronaut to primary, securing her place in aerospace history. SoYeon Yi spent a year in the Russian cosmonaut program, half of which was classroom-based and half of which was focused on work in the simulators. SoYeon recalls that the classroom portion focused on aircraft systems, safety, mechanics, and theory along with Russian language training. This classroom portion was followed by time in the simula...
Apr 16, 2019•15 min
Airships are lighter than air craft whose history goes back to mid-nineteenth century France and comes to a screeching halt after World War Two. Learn more about what makes air ships such a unique part of aviation history in our latest Flight Deck Podcast episode! Joshua Carver, a student in our Museum Apprentice Program who’s about to begin his freshman year at Embry-Riddle University, created a fascinating presentation about airships as part of his apprenticeship at the Museum. During this tim...
Apr 02, 2019•16 min
Bessie Coleman is the world’s first black woman pilot, and her great-niece Gigi Coleman carries on the pilot’s legacy by performing her life story. Learn more about how Bessie Coleman’s bravery and persistence helped her make aviation history. -- Gigi Coleman, great-niece of the world’s first African American and Native American pilot Bessie Coleman, carries on her great-aunt’s legacy. Bessie was the tenth of thirteen children and the sister of Gigi’s grandmother. As Gigi was growing up, she did...
Mar 19, 2019•14 min
: Jerry Coy, who was featured in our episode about the 747, isn’t just an experienced commercial airline pilot—he’s also a military veteran, and his experiences during Vietnam warrant their very own episode. Coy tells us about the time his pilot duties took him outside his usual routine and placed him in charge of a complicated rescue mission. One night Coy gets a call from a staff sergeant to support an operation by the Green Berets. “I always carry a bag of hand grenades in my plane,” says Coy...
Mar 05, 2019•6 min
Today, Air Traffic Control towers loom over airports, bringing order and safety to a huge network of airplanes crossing the globe. But what was it like to fly in the earliest days of aviation, before radios or signal towers? Retired FAA Air Traffic Controller Helen Parke-Wall shares stories from the beginnings of ATC. If you’ve hiked the prairies of the Midwest or the backcountry of the Southwestern United States, you may have stumbled across a massive, concrete arrow embedded into the ground. N...
Feb 19, 2019•14 min
*NOTE: During this episode, you may hear the interviewer and interviewee refer to “the 400” or “dash 100.” These numbers refer to variants of the 747. Just like apples have different varieties—fuji, honeycrisp, MacIntosh, etc—planes have their own variations, too! When Boeing released the 747, it changed the aviation industry forever. The story of the 747’s development, however, must be told alongside the stories of the pilots who flew it. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 747’s firs...
Feb 05, 2019•15 min
Sometimes the story of how we acquired an artifact is just as interesting as the artifact itself. Such is the case with the Soviet-built MiG-21 that stands in our Great Gallery. Bruce Florsheim, one of our docents and an active player in getting the MiG to Seattle, explains the historical significance of the MiG and how it ended up in our Museum. “In its time, the MiG 21 became the most produced supersonic jet in aviation history and the most produced combat aircraft since WWII,” says Florsheim....
Jan 22, 2019•14 min
What do you get when a WWII American Fighter Ace has the same name as a Hollywood icon and doesn’t get rid of anything? The Lt. Col. James C Stewart Collection! Amy Heidrick, Associate Director of Collections, delves into the archives of the American Fighter Aces Association to reveal the stories that these objects tell about being a fighter ace during WWII. One of our most robust collections belongs to Lt. Col. James C. Stewart, or Jimmy Stewart as he was known. He happened to be serving in the...
Jan 08, 2019•12 min
The clock was ticking in 1968, and the race to the Moon was on. The Apollo 8 mission, which came about by accident as NASA was finalizing tests on weight and vehicle performance, sent a crew to the Moon to see if humans could fly safely on the Saturn V rocket. They did, and one of the most amazing takeaways of the mission—aside from the safe return of the astronauts—was the famous Earthrise photo taken on Christmas Eve and the unexpected lesson it taught us: our place in the Universe. NASA histo...
Dec 25, 2018•14 min
Please Note: During his retelling, American fighter ace Besby F. Holmes uses an ethnic slur to describe his attackers. This oral history is presented unedited as a historical artifact of one veteran's experience. In American fighter ace Besby F. Holmes’ oral history, recorded in the early 90’s, he recalls the scramble to get to a plane during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The night before, he had a few too many rum drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel while on a blind date, and he was nursing a hang...
Dec 10, 2018•14 min
Commercial pilot Kevin Gordon returns in this episode to answer listener questions about all things aviation: what it takes to become a pilot, the difference between Navy and Air Force pilots, and explains the infamous “blue juice” of plane bathrooms. Gordon explains the two routes to becoming a pilot—military and civilian—and shares his own story of flight, from getting a private pilot’s license to getting a helicopter license. Gordon also acknowledges some of the funnier moments he’s had teach...
Nov 27, 2018•14 min
Before there were flight attendants, there were stewardesses, and in this AMA episode we talk to Mary Hoy, who served as a stewardess aboard United Airlines from 1967-1973, who answers questions from our social media followers. Hoy describes the joys and struggles of being a stewardess during this Golden Age of Aviation and recalls experiencing rapid changes in aviation technology as she worked aboard a variety of planes from the Douglas DC-6 to the Boeing 747. And Hoy doesn’t shy away from deta...
Nov 13, 2018•15 min
Eighty years ago today, Orson Welles’ 1938 broadcast ‘War of the Worlds’ used cutting-edge audio technology to convince listeners that planet Earth was under attack by Martians. What was intended as a Halloween special actually caused listeners all over the country some real distress, and we talk to three experts—Ben Blacker, co-creator of the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast and creator of the comic series Hex Wives; Valerie Stafford, President of the Concrete Chamber of Commerce; and CJ Smith,...
Oct 30, 2018•14 min
Sometime between her third and fourth year of her PhD program, Yi’s research ground to a halt. Her experiments were failing, she wasn’t acquiring good data, and even her friends were asking whether or not she could, or should, continue. Amidst the confusion about her future in science, Yi heard that the Korean government was looking for astronaut candidates. “I’m an easily distracted person, so I turn my attention to whatever is new and exciting,” Yi says. Being an astronaut seemed like a new, s...
Oct 16, 2018•12 min
96-year-old Betty Dybbro was fortunate enough to spend one year as a WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilot) during World War Two, and in order to tell her story, we enlisted Katherine K. and Nithi B., two members of Amelia’s Aero Club who participate in aviation and aerospace activities at the Museum. They ask Betty about growing up in rural Indiana, her very first flight, and what she felt when she first heard the news about Pearl Harbor. Betty loved her time as a WASP and calls it “the most plea...
Oct 02, 2018•14 min
Did you have trouble figuring out your major when you were in college? If so, you already have one thing in common with the world’s first Korean astronaut, Soyeon Yi. After toying with the idea of becoming an industrial engineer—she always loved designing buildings and drawing—Soyeon Yi realized it wasn’t the right fit for her; then, through a process of elimination, she decided to pursue mechanical engineering all the way through graduate school. Soyeon Yi, who also happens to be a volunteer at...
Sep 18, 2018•17 min
Did you know that 80% of the world’s blindness can be cured, and 90% of those cases occur in low to middle income countries? The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital works to decrease preventable and curable incidents of blindness with its mobile operating room and teaching facility. The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital started in 1982 with a DC-8 plane that flew to locations around the globe that are in desperate need of basic eye treatment for preventable and curable conditions. Now, Orbis boasts an MD-10 outfi...
Sep 04, 2018•14 min
As SpaceX and Blue Origin continue to make history by building rockets that will take future space vacationers to the Moon or Mars, the Museum is thinking about how to preserve the history of these private companies. Back in the 1960’s and up until now, it was easy for historians to access public records at NASA that documented the space race; and that’s not the case now. According to our Adjunct Curator for Space History, Geoff Nunn, “corporate archives are becoming ever more important, but pri...
Aug 16, 2018•13 min
The American Fighter Aces Association preserves the memories of pilots who have sacrificed bravely for their country, and the Museum is home to its collection of artifacts and stories, including the oral histories of numerous pilots we’ve interviewed. In this edition of our Personal Courage series, we sit down with digitization specialist Ali Lane to listen to highlights from oral histories of three pilots—Gregory A. Daymond, Harold E. Comstock, and Louis William (Bill) Chick, Jr. We learn how a...
Aug 07, 2018•16 min
Episode 13: Meet and R2-D2 Builder Bob Jacobson, R2-D2 builder extraordinaire, claims that he wasn’t always into engineering, but the process of building his droid forced him to learn some basic and advanced techniques. Our host caught up with Jacobson at the Museum’s R2-D2 Builder’s Expo, held every year in the spring. Jacobson and his R2-D2 were game for all of our questions, like what inspired him to pursue R2-D2 building and what he really thinks of BB-8. You’ll also be surprised to hear abo...
Jul 24, 2018•11 min
Episode 12: She Opened Up the Skies A faceless mannequin wearing a 1920s’ style dress is posed next to our Boeing model 40B, but it’s not just there for show. The mannequin represents Jane Eads, the world’s very first transcontinental commercial airline passenger. In 1927, when she was just a 21-year old journalist, Eads rode in a 40B on a mail route from Chicago to San Francisco. Back then, the journey took 22 hours. Her vivid descriptions about her experience in the air led to more people gain...
Jul 10, 2018•15 min
Back in 1977, when Bob Alexander was just a young engineer, he was chosen to work on a challenging new project: the Hubble space telescope. During his ten years on the project, Bob—now a Museum volunteer—advanced to the level of supervisor and recalls that with all the experienced engineers working alongside him, designing the Hubble was a pretty smooth operation. This week, we’ve tapped Akshay Murthy, a student at Tesla STEM High School in Bellevue, to do the interview because of his passion fo...
Jun 25, 2018•16 min
Episode 10: Do Airplanes Have Keys? This week we talk to Kevin Gordon, first officer for Alaska Airlines, who graciously answers questions that our listeners have submitted via social media. Do a pilot’s arms get tired after flying all day? And can they watch movies during their flights? Gordon answers these queries and explains that the titles captain and first officer, which many mistake for pilot and co-pilot, stem from military traditions and denote levels of responsibility in the cockpit. T...
Jun 12, 2018•14 min
Episode 9: Surviving the Final Frontier Did you know that for every month you spend in space, you lose about 2% BMI? Neither did we until we talked to Tommy Gantz, one of our volunteers and resident space experts. Over the years she’s spent a lot of time studying space travel and life aboard the International Space Station, and has developed a deep respect for anyone who travels to space. Gantz admires astronauts—“They remind me of the first great aviators”—but maintains that she’s not nearly br...
May 29, 2018•11 min
Episode 8: The Angel Bird Hustling in and out of a Huey helicopter is one of the most vivid memories of Platoon leader David Waggoner and crew chief Jerry Sousa: it took 10-15 seconds to load and unload the helicopter, and their journeys took them to hot zones where they were vulnerable to enemy fire. The Huey and those who flew in it were fearless, reporting to every call no matter how dangerous, and ended up transporting over 90,000 soldiers during the war. Ultimately, Waggoner and Sousa want ...
May 15, 2018•14 min
