The NASM's 60,000 objects comprise the world's largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. The content is culled from the museum's two public display facilities, one on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and the second at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

Among the 100 artifacts profiled are the original 1903 Wright Flyer; Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis; Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1; John Glenn's Friendship 7 spacecraft; the Apollo 11 command module; Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird; the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay; the Dash 80 prototype for the 707; the sole-surviving Boeing 307 Stratoliner; and space shuttle Discovery.