The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The Museum's Collection
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum holds in trust the largest and most comprehensive collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. At the disposal of the visitors there are 23 exhibition galleries, featuring a wide variety of artifacts, housed at the National Mall Building and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The National Air and Space Museum chronicles the history of flight from the very first endeavors to the very latest.
The Museum's rich collection comprises over 30,000 aviation and 9,000 space artifacts. Among the highlights of historic aircraft and spacecraft, the aviation fans will discover the Wright Flyer that served for the first controlled, powered flight in 1903; the Apollo 11 Command Module, the first mission to land astronauts on the moon; and the "Spirit of St. Louis", used for making the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
The most notable exhibits are also presented by the Bell X-1 used for making the first powered supersonic level flight; a modernized V-2 rocket, the first thing to reach space developed by a man; SpaceShipOne, the first privately built and guided spacecraft to reach space. The visitors may study and even touch the first of very few lunar rock samples.
The treasury of the museum underlines the richness of the history of flight, being composed of such artifacts as engines, rockets, uniforms, spacesuits, balloons, artwork, documents, manuscripts and photographs.
Additional Museum's Attractions
A vast majority of the exhibits are interactive and provide great enjoyment for kids. For example, there is an opportunity of riding in several 4-minute flight simulator rides.
Everybody wishing to take a journey through space or to witness natural and manmade wonders of the world is invited to the IMAX Theater. A film is projected on a five-story-high screen featuring six-channel digital surround sound. The Albert Einstein Planetarium offers a pleasure of a 20-minute tour of the universe with its new dual digital projection system, Sky Vision. Those who are eager to find nice souvenirs and gifts may visit the museum's three-story gift shop.
The National Air and Space Museum takes care of developing new exhibits demonstrating the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight. The museum is also a research center and arranges guided tours, educational programs and school group activities.
No wonder, the National Air and Space Museum attracts more visitors than any other museum in the world, over 9.5 million visitors of all ages annually, representing a must-see for anybody coming to Washington, DC. The national collection is accessible to other museums in the United States and in other countries by implementing an active loan program aimed at reaching a wider audience. The museum entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest daily attendance: 118,437 visitors on April 14, 1984.
The Museum's Establishment
The museum was established in 1946 with the original name - the National Air Museum. The collection was given the start in 1876 when the Smithsonian was presented with a group of kites by the Chinese Imperial Commission. In 1889, the Stringfellow engine became the first item to join the collection. Originally the collection was placed in the Arts & Industries building on the National Mall.The construction of the new Museum was initiated by the congress in 1958 and it was opened in 1976The new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center has been recently opened in Chantilly, Virginia. A round-trip shuttle bus delivers the passengers from the museum's main building in Washington DC and the new Center in about half an hour's drive. The new second location will display the immense space shuttle Enterprise, the Lockheed SR-71 and a great variety of aircraft, spacecraft and other artifacts that the Smithsonian's National Mall location has not been able to accommodate.
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