We look up in the sky as a plane slices through the clouds. Most of the time, we don't think twice about it. But sometimes we're struck with wonder: How did we learn to fly with the birds? Although we often think of the Wright brothers' famous "first flight" in 1903 as the beginning of aviation history, man's attempt to soar through the sky goes back as far as the 15th century. Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's, Samuel Langley built a model plane in 1891, and Otto Lilienthal built his gliders in 1894.
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) holds in trust over 39,000 aviation artifacts that goes back many centuries. Historic aircraft and spacecraft, such as the Wright Flyer and the Apollo 11 Command Module, highlight the national collection. Thousands of additional artifacts--including engines, rockets, balloons, artwork, documents, manuscripts and photographs--document the richness of the history of flight, at home and around the world.
For anyone interested in aviation, NASM is a haven of aeronautical bliss. There are so many aircraft and spacecraft to see, some extremely rare and one-of-a-kind, up close and almost touchable. My excitement as I first walk through this place is palpable, as if I had achieved some kind of Nirvana of the air. Many of the exhibits are educational or informative, but those that strike me as the most impressive are those I never thought I would be in such close proximity to. Standing a couple feet from a wingtip of the Wright Flyer, or walking underneath the Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, puts you in touch with these incredible machines in a way that no photograph, book, or film ever can.
Opened in the bicentennial year of 1976, NASM has soaring galleries and beautiful views of the Capitol and Mall. The museum's arrangement is simple with three giant exhibition spaces -- Milestones of Flight, Space Race, and Air Transportation. Nineteen other galleries are spread out in two rows over two floors. NASM is easily the world's most visited museum. More than 9 million people visit each year and you can easily see why. The museum explores the dramatic story of aviation, from the first fleeting successes to the successful landing on the moon 60 years later. The museum itself is an awe-inspiring space.
The best place to begin a visit is in the "The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age" gallery. That plane, known as the Wright Flyer, is the centerpiece of the comprehensive and illuminating show, and it's now viewable at eye level, having been taken down from its overhead perch in the museum's "Milestones of Flight" gallery. Along with technical displays on the mechanics of flight, historical and personal insight into the Wright brothers themselves and material related to the impact of their invention on global culture, "The Wright Brothers" does its level best to create a context within which one can tap into the importance and the excitement of the event this exhibition commemorates.
The next best place to visit is in the museum's glorious entrance hall. If you are strapped for time, make sure that you at least poke your head in to see this wonderful space and its aviation artifacts. Four planes float above. Silver spaceships are all around. This gallery exhibits the tiny and claustrophobic-looking Mercury Friendship 7 in which John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Also on display in this hall are Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis in 1927 in which he made the first solo flight across the Atlantic and the Apollo 11 command module that Neil Armstrong and his crew took back from the first moon landing in 1969. You can also touch a 4-billion-year-old tiny triangle of the moon.
For a closer look at pioneer events in aviation history, visit the Pioneers Flight gallery in the 2nd floor. Since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, men and women have had to break both physical and psychological barriers to flight. In these historic aircraft, individuals strived to claim their place in aviation history. Highlights range from Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago", one of two aircraft to make the first flight around the world to the Fokker T-2, the first aircraft to fly nonstop coast to coast in May 1923. No study of aviation is complete without learning the story of Wright EX biplane. For a look back at this the first aircraft to make a transcontinental flight in fewer than 30 days, be sure to read the tale of the EX biplane, adventurer Cal Rogers was to receive five dollars for every mile he flew. But it was not until almost two months later, after 70 landings, a number of which were crashes, and extensive repairs to the aircraft, that Rogers reached his destination. Remember, brave heroes in flight haven't all been men! To learn about some of the great female flyers of the past and present, visit Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega.
Space Race, which traces a half-century of the competition between the United States and Russia to conquer space, is also an inspiring installation, with its collection of Soviet and NASA space suits, moon buggies, Apollo-issue toothbrushes, even a 1:100 scale model of International Space Station. The other large Air Transportation hall tells the story of transporting people, mail, and goods by air. This gallery contains airplanes from the formative years of air transportation in the United States. The giant Douglas DC-3 and Boeing 247 float overhead.
If you are at all interested in military history, make sure to stop in World War II aviation, Sea-Air Operations, or Legend, Memory, and the Great War in the Air -- all on the second floor. The World War II Aviation is considered by many the most spectacular display gallery at the Museum, an exhibition gallery memorializes the men and air machines of World War II that contains more than five vintage airplanes, including Supermarine Spitfire is a legend in British air history and the P-51 Mustang the best fighter of World War II. The best way to enjoy this display is with a knowledgeable docent. Check the tour times as you enter the museum.
The most interesting display on the second floor is the planes of Sea-Air Operations that contains Grumman F4F Wildcat, Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless, and Douglas A-4C Skyhawk. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the history of ship-based flight. Step aboard the simulated aircraft carrier USS Smithsonian. Beyond the quarterdeck is the cavernous gray interior of the hangar deck; this is the storage and repair area for the aircraft that take off and land on the flight deck overhead.
Perhaps the most exciting years of aviation history span the period from the end of World War I to our entry into World War II. This period is referred to as Golden Age of Flight because of the countless advances in aviation technology that occurred, the many expeditions undertaken, and the numerous records set. The names of air-race pilots and aerobatic flyers were constantly in the headlines and newsreels. The Golden Age of Flight contains race programs from the 1920s and 1930s, along with air race tickets, grandstand passes, and other interesting memorabilia of the time. Another display case contains aircraft models, trophies, and air race information. With air-race memorabilia, and streamlined planes like the Hughes H-1 and the Northrup Polar Star, the gallery evokes the golden age of popular aviators. In this gallery, the public was intensely interested in aviation events and the visitor gains a sense of the major progress made in aviation during this time.
Located on the first floor in Gallery 110, "Looking at Earth" shows visitors how views of our planet from above have helped us to better understand the Earth. Examples of satellite imagery and aerial photography display how remote sensing is used for urban planning, geology, archaeology, military reconnaissance, environmental monitoring and natural disaster assessment. From the first aerial photos taken from balloons to images taken from space, looking at the Earth from above provides a unique and beautiful view of the natural and human induced changes that occur on our planet. This gallery reflects the revolution in satellite reconnaissance in which film was replaced by computer-massaged imagery. Remote sensing, no longer the intelligence secret it was until the early 1990s, reveals stunning perspectives of the earth. This gallery emphasizes how humans have altered the earth's surface and atmosphere, and the concomitant if unintentional aesthetic is irresistible. The beauty of river deltas, typhoons, erupting volcanoes, and even Vermont's fall colors contribute to this museum's treasury.
Flight is a comprehensive history of air travel as shown through 22 dramatic galleries. The NASM covers aviation history from the first attempts at flight to the latest aircraft. The National Air and Space Museum is the only place to see such marvels as actual spacesuits, a mock-up of the spacecraft described in Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon." They also have rotating special exhibitions on everything from science fiction to the functioning of the Global Positioning System. Museum's other galleries contain everything from a reproduction of a World War I battlefield to a Martian Valley to space suits. For all the thrill of all 22 galleries at museum can be a little slow.
After tour the museum, you probably may still be wondering: "But how do these aircraft fly?" Believe it or not, all airplanes, from the first aircraft to modern-day jet fighters, fly using the same four forces: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. For a simple explanation of the dynamics of flight, you could take a closer look at the How Things Fly gallery. If you're looking for more in-depth information on the physics of flight, read Theory of Flight and then experience these science basics first hand with a few Science Activities at this same gallery.
A treasure trove of American triumphs, the Air and Space Museum overwhelms visitors with its immense collection of flying machines. The NASM is really cool - I mean, standing in front of all those rockets and capsules and space-stuff and realizing how bloody big most of it is really cool.
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) holds in trust over 39,000 aviation artifacts that goes back many centuries. Historic aircraft and spacecraft, such as the Wright Flyer and the Apollo 11 Command Module, highlight the national collection. Thousands of additional artifacts--including engines, rockets, balloons, artwork, documents, manuscripts and photographs--document the richness of the history of flight, at home and around the world.
For anyone interested in aviation, NASM is a haven of aeronautical bliss. There are so many aircraft and spacecraft to see, some extremely rare and one-of-a-kind, up close and almost touchable. My excitement as I first walk through this place is palpable, as if I had achieved some kind of Nirvana of the air. Many of the exhibits are educational or informative, but those that strike me as the most impressive are those I never thought I would be in such close proximity to. Standing a couple feet from a wingtip of the Wright Flyer, or walking underneath the Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, puts you in touch with these incredible machines in a way that no photograph, book, or film ever can.
Opened in the bicentennial year of 1976, NASM has soaring galleries and beautiful views of the Capitol and Mall. The museum's arrangement is simple with three giant exhibition spaces -- Milestones of Flight, Space Race, and Air Transportation. Nineteen other galleries are spread out in two rows over two floors. NASM is easily the world's most visited museum. More than 9 million people visit each year and you can easily see why. The museum explores the dramatic story of aviation, from the first fleeting successes to the successful landing on the moon 60 years later. The museum itself is an awe-inspiring space.
The best place to begin a visit is in the "The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age" gallery. That plane, known as the Wright Flyer, is the centerpiece of the comprehensive and illuminating show, and it's now viewable at eye level, having been taken down from its overhead perch in the museum's "Milestones of Flight" gallery. Along with technical displays on the mechanics of flight, historical and personal insight into the Wright brothers themselves and material related to the impact of their invention on global culture, "The Wright Brothers" does its level best to create a context within which one can tap into the importance and the excitement of the event this exhibition commemorates.
The next best place to visit is in the museum's glorious entrance hall. If you are strapped for time, make sure that you at least poke your head in to see this wonderful space and its aviation artifacts. Four planes float above. Silver spaceships are all around. This gallery exhibits the tiny and claustrophobic-looking Mercury Friendship 7 in which John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Also on display in this hall are Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis in 1927 in which he made the first solo flight across the Atlantic and the Apollo 11 command module that Neil Armstrong and his crew took back from the first moon landing in 1969. You can also touch a 4-billion-year-old tiny triangle of the moon.
For a closer look at pioneer events in aviation history, visit the Pioneers Flight gallery in the 2nd floor. Since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, men and women have had to break both physical and psychological barriers to flight. In these historic aircraft, individuals strived to claim their place in aviation history. Highlights range from Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago", one of two aircraft to make the first flight around the world to the Fokker T-2, the first aircraft to fly nonstop coast to coast in May 1923. No study of aviation is complete without learning the story of Wright EX biplane. For a look back at this the first aircraft to make a transcontinental flight in fewer than 30 days, be sure to read the tale of the EX biplane, adventurer Cal Rogers was to receive five dollars for every mile he flew. But it was not until almost two months later, after 70 landings, a number of which were crashes, and extensive repairs to the aircraft, that Rogers reached his destination. Remember, brave heroes in flight haven't all been men! To learn about some of the great female flyers of the past and present, visit Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega.
Space Race, which traces a half-century of the competition between the United States and Russia to conquer space, is also an inspiring installation, with its collection of Soviet and NASA space suits, moon buggies, Apollo-issue toothbrushes, even a 1:100 scale model of International Space Station. The other large Air Transportation hall tells the story of transporting people, mail, and goods by air. This gallery contains airplanes from the formative years of air transportation in the United States. The giant Douglas DC-3 and Boeing 247 float overhead.
If you are at all interested in military history, make sure to stop in World War II aviation, Sea-Air Operations, or Legend, Memory, and the Great War in the Air -- all on the second floor. The World War II Aviation is considered by many the most spectacular display gallery at the Museum, an exhibition gallery memorializes the men and air machines of World War II that contains more than five vintage airplanes, including Supermarine Spitfire is a legend in British air history and the P-51 Mustang the best fighter of World War II. The best way to enjoy this display is with a knowledgeable docent. Check the tour times as you enter the museum.
The most interesting display on the second floor is the planes of Sea-Air Operations that contains Grumman F4F Wildcat, Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless, and Douglas A-4C Skyhawk. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the history of ship-based flight. Step aboard the simulated aircraft carrier USS Smithsonian. Beyond the quarterdeck is the cavernous gray interior of the hangar deck; this is the storage and repair area for the aircraft that take off and land on the flight deck overhead.
Perhaps the most exciting years of aviation history span the period from the end of World War I to our entry into World War II. This period is referred to as Golden Age of Flight because of the countless advances in aviation technology that occurred, the many expeditions undertaken, and the numerous records set. The names of air-race pilots and aerobatic flyers were constantly in the headlines and newsreels. The Golden Age of Flight contains race programs from the 1920s and 1930s, along with air race tickets, grandstand passes, and other interesting memorabilia of the time. Another display case contains aircraft models, trophies, and air race information. With air-race memorabilia, and streamlined planes like the Hughes H-1 and the Northrup Polar Star, the gallery evokes the golden age of popular aviators. In this gallery, the public was intensely interested in aviation events and the visitor gains a sense of the major progress made in aviation during this time.
Located on the first floor in Gallery 110, "Looking at Earth" shows visitors how views of our planet from above have helped us to better understand the Earth. Examples of satellite imagery and aerial photography display how remote sensing is used for urban planning, geology, archaeology, military reconnaissance, environmental monitoring and natural disaster assessment. From the first aerial photos taken from balloons to images taken from space, looking at the Earth from above provides a unique and beautiful view of the natural and human induced changes that occur on our planet. This gallery reflects the revolution in satellite reconnaissance in which film was replaced by computer-massaged imagery. Remote sensing, no longer the intelligence secret it was until the early 1990s, reveals stunning perspectives of the earth. This gallery emphasizes how humans have altered the earth's surface and atmosphere, and the concomitant if unintentional aesthetic is irresistible. The beauty of river deltas, typhoons, erupting volcanoes, and even Vermont's fall colors contribute to this museum's treasury.
Flight is a comprehensive history of air travel as shown through 22 dramatic galleries. The NASM covers aviation history from the first attempts at flight to the latest aircraft. The National Air and Space Museum is the only place to see such marvels as actual spacesuits, a mock-up of the spacecraft described in Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon." They also have rotating special exhibitions on everything from science fiction to the functioning of the Global Positioning System. Museum's other galleries contain everything from a reproduction of a World War I battlefield to a Martian Valley to space suits. For all the thrill of all 22 galleries at museum can be a little slow.
After tour the museum, you probably may still be wondering: "But how do these aircraft fly?" Believe it or not, all airplanes, from the first aircraft to modern-day jet fighters, fly using the same four forces: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. For a simple explanation of the dynamics of flight, you could take a closer look at the How Things Fly gallery. If you're looking for more in-depth information on the physics of flight, read Theory of Flight and then experience these science basics first hand with a few Science Activities at this same gallery.
A treasure trove of American triumphs, the Air and Space Museum overwhelms visitors with its immense collection of flying machines. The NASM is really cool - I mean, standing in front of all those rockets and capsules and space-stuff and realizing how bloody big most of it is really cool.