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My Highlight Tour of New Galleries
The Museum showcases a truly awesome collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft that represent epic achievements in aviation and space flight. In this gallery, I will navigate visitors through the evolution of aviation by examining the aircraft in the Museum's world-class collection. See how far the human race has come in the span of a single lifetime.
This morning we'll be starting our tour with the remarkable Wright Flyer in the Gallery 107. The Wright Brothers (Gallery 107)The invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright is one of the great stories in American history. The Wright brothers’ invention not only solved a long-studied technical problem, but helped create an entirely new world.
This magnificent gallery explores who Wilbur and Orville Wright were, what they achieved and how they did it, and how the world first reacted to their revolutionary invention. This gallery provides an engrossing look at the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright, their technical achievements and the cultural impact of their breakthrough in the decade that followed. The centerpiece of the gallery is the original 1903 Wright Flyer, displayed at eye level for the first time since it was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1948. Successful Flight
Essential Elements of Flight
Wright Brothers Discover Aspect Ratio (6:20) The Story of the Inner Tube Box (3:56) We All Fly (Gallery 106)
We All Fly gallery celebrates the breadth and depth of general aviation and its deep impact on society. This gallery explores the many facets of general aviation, from sport to business to humanitarian, and introduces the variety of careers available in aviation. Aircraft featured in the gallery include the Sean D. Tucker Challenger III, Cirrus SR22, and the Lear Jet 23.
Sean D. Tucker Challenger III Sean D. Tucker rolled and tumbled like no other flyer. Specialty Aero and Aviation Specialties Unlimited built the Challenger III aerobatic biplane to withstand Tucker’s maneuvers—like rolling the Challenger III at 400 degrees per second. A “flying tail” helped him fly sustained knife-edge and backwards flight. Designers and engineers made the airframe with welded steel tubes. They used wood spars in the wings, and covered the wings and fuselage with fabric. Eight ailerons and curved wing tips enhanced maneuverability. The tail had a carbon-fiber covered vertical fin and an aluminum rudder. The custom-built, fuel injected engine featured aluminum pistons manufactured for drag racing cars. A Flying Car in 1945 (Fulton Airphibian FA-3-101) Designed by Robert Fulton Jr., the Airphibian in 1950 became the first roadable aircraft approved by the Civil Aviation Administration. It could fly to an airport and then, after disengaging wings, tail, and propeller, become a car. While a technical success as a flying car, the Airphibian did not become a marketable design due to the inherent compromises of air and car technologies and financial difficulties. A former company officer donated the Airphibian in 1960 and Robert Fulton III restored it in 1998. Cirrus SR22 The Cirrus SR22 changed the face of general aviation when introduced in 2001 with completely new exterior designs of all-composite material, improved aerodynamics and expanded windows, ergonomically designed interior based on a side yoke control and new instrumentation, and the integrated flight instrumentation/avionics systems. The Cirrus SR22 represents the first comprehensive and transformational redesign of personal aircraft in over 50 years. It has been the best-selling general aviation airplane every year since 2003 and is the recipient of many aerospace industry design and safety awards. In 2014, Alan and Dale Klapmeier were inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Lear Jet 23 The first Lear Jets, the Model 23s, were the first products of the original Lear Jet Corporation for the new field of business and personal jet aviation. So significant was the design that for years "Lear Jet" was synonymous with "bizjet." William P. Lear Sr. initiated the Lear Jet's development in 1959. The aircraft drew upon the structural quality of the Swiss AFA P-16 strike-fighter and featured a fuselage that narrowed at each side where the wing and engine nacelles extended outward-a design concept known as area rule-to provide smooth airflow around the engines. Successive Lear Jet models set many speed records. In production since 1964, the Lear Jet line closed in 2021. This is the second protoype Model 23 and was used as a test aircraft. Early Fly (Gallery 103)
World's First Military Airplane (1:32) Bleriot XI - The First Warplane (8:23) America by Air (Gallery 102)
“America by Air” will emerge from the Museum’s multi-year transformation campaign refreshed with a new layout, improved graphics, interactives, and several new artifacts including the Lincoln-Standard H.S. and the Huff-Daland Duster. The exhibition will continue to trace the history of air transportation in the United States and explore how the federal government shaped the airline industry and how improvements in technology have revolutionized air travel, changing the flying experience.
Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor
Pitcairn PA-5 Mailwing
The First Modern Airliner: The Boeing 247 (6:46) Douglas DC-3: Most Successful Airliner (1:29) One World Connected (Gallery 207)
One World Connected tells the story of how taking to the skies and stars fostered two momentous changes in everyday life: the ease in making connections across vast distances and a new perspective of Earth as humanity’s home. Featuring an array of satellites and other tools that have increased human connection, the exhibition asks visitors to consider how global interconnection touches their lives and to imagine how advances in technology might impact our near-future.
Beechcraft 35 Bonanza On March 7-8, 1949, Captain William Paul Odom departed Honolulu Airport on the island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, flying the fourth prototype Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza, N80040, which he had named Waikiki Beech, enroute to Teterboro, New Jersey, non-stop. He arrived there after 36 hours, 1 minute, setting a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Distance in a Straight Line of 4,957.24 miles, averaging 137.64 miles per hour. The Bonanza had 12 gallons (45.4 liters) of gasoline remaining, having consumed 272.25 gallons. Computer, Super, Cray-1, CPU This is a CRAY-1, an early example of a class of computers called "supercomputers." It was built by Cray Research, Inc. of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and installed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Unlike most computers, it was hand-wired, and its circuits were arranged in a three-quarters circle. Both helped increase the speeds at which signals travel from one part of the computer to another. Hefty power supplies are located below each of the circuit bays, and the padding on them suggests a piece of lounge furniture. At NCAR, the machine was used between 1977 and 1983, where it performed complex calculations involving the numerical modeling of weather phenomena. As the speeds of ordinary workstations increased over the years, it became obsolete and was donated to the Smithsonian. Cable, Fiber Optic, Undersea, Single Armor Satellites provide unprecedented flexibility in passing information around the world. But they compete with and complement another technology for international communications: fiber optic cables laid beneath oceans and connecting the world's major land masses. Fiber optic cables can carry more information, more quickly than satellites, but they concentrate service to the most heavily populated regions of the world. This section of cable represents late 1990s technology. Note the thin filaments at the center of the cable; these are the fiber optic strands that transmit communications. Communications Satellite, Iridium This satellite is the heart of a space-based communications system called Iridium. Conceived, designed, and built by Motorola, the Iridium system provides wireless, mobile communications through a network of 66 satellites in polar, low-Earth orbits. Inaugurated in November 1998, under the auspices of Iridium LLC, this complex space system allowed callers using hand-held mobile phones and pagers to communicate anywhere in the world--a first in the history of telephony. The system is still operational today. Designed primarily for commercial communications, the U.S. government has used Iridium extensively in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Destination Moon (Gallery 206)Project Mercury
Project Mercury was America's first human space flight program and it proved that human space flight was possible. The greatest challenge to Mercury engineers was to devise a vehicle that would protect a human from the temperature extremes, vacuum, and newly discovered radiation of space.
The selection process of the astronaut crew began in 1958. Applicants had to be less than 40 years of age, shorter than 5 feet 11 inches, in excellent physical shape, and have a test pilot background with at least 1,500 hours in the air. From an initial pool of 508 candidates, NASA winnowed the number down to seven. Mercury Seven, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Don Slayton, were introduced to the public at Washington, D.C. in 1959. John Glenn was the first American to make an orbital flight, traveling three times around the Earth in this Friendship 7 in 1962. He was the first American to see a sunrise and sunset from space and the first photographer in orbit. Glenn returned to Earth as a national hero, having achieved Project Mercury's primary goal. This spacecraft that was designed with a volume of only 60 cubic feet, there was barely enough room for its pilot, who sat in a couch facing a panel with 120 controls, 55 electrical switches, 30 fuses, and 35 mechanical levers. The cabin's atmospheric pressure was one-third of that on Earth and contained pure oxygen. Project Mercury had taken the critical first step to demonstrate that humans could survive in space, a spacecraft could be designed to launch them into orbit, and that the crew could return safely to Earth. Project Mercury: The First Americans in Space (4:06) Project Gemini
At the near the conclusion of Project Mercury, the Project Gemini was initiated in early 1960s to perfect the techniques required for a lunar mission. Its primary purpose was to demonstrate space rendezvous and docking techniques that would be used during the later Apollo flights to the Moon.
The Gemini spacecraft was an improvement on the Mercury capsule. But it had only 50 percent more cabin space for twice as many people, and was extremely cramped. Unlike Mercury, which had been able to change only its orientation while in flight, Gemini needed to have the capability to move forward, backward and sideways in its orbital path, and even change orbits to rendezvous with other spacecraft. The complexity of rendezvous demanded two people on board, and more piloting than had been possible with Mercury. It also required the first onboard computers to calculate complicated rendezvous maneuvers. Gemini IV, a four-day flight piloted by James McDivvitt and Edward White, was launched in 1965. The highlight of this flight was the first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an American; Edward White's 22minute spacewalk. Using a handheld maneuvering unit, he swam through space while attached to his lifeline tether, moving at nearly 18,000 miles per hour. The mission also attempted to rendezvous with the second stage of the Titan launch vehicle but was unsuccessful. They later learned that a spacecraft trying to catch up with another needed to drop to a lower, faster orbit first before rising again. During Gemini, ten piloted missions lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in less than 20 months. By Gemini's end, orbital rendezvous and docking had become routine, and it seemed clear that humans could live, work, and stay healthy in space for days or even weeks at a time. Above all, the program had added nearly 1,000 hours of valuable space flight experience in the years between Mercury and Apollo, which by 1966 NASA was nearing flight readiness. Gemini VII (2:37) Bridge from Mercury to Apollo (1:16) Project Apollo
One Small Step (1:38) Ask an Expert: Apollo and Moon Hoax (16:32) Apollo Command Module
The Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia is certainly among the most historic artifacts in the National Collection. It carried astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on their historic voyage to the Moon and back in 1969. Columbia was the living quarters and overall spacecraft control center for the three-man crew during the first manned lunar landing mission.
On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins climbed into Columbia for their 8-day journey. A thrust of 7.6 million pounds took 2.5 minutes to take the rocket to a 40 mile altitude, at a speed of 6,000 mph. After the first stage detached, the second stage took the craft to 115 miles above sea level, with a thrust of one million pounds, at speeds over 15,000 mph.
After the second stage detached, the third stage brought the craft into a stable Earth orbit. The astronauts performed systems checks. The third stage brought them to the moon. The Apollo Command/Service Module separated from the Saturn third stage, turned around, then reconnected, docking with the Lunar Module. The spacecraft was ejected from the Saturn third stage and the spacecraft traveled to the Moon. Three days later, the craft entered a stable orbit. Two of the three astronauts went into the Lunar Module, while one stayed in the Command/Service Module. The Lunar Module detached from the Command/Service Module and descended to the Moon. Following their historic landing and exploration of the lunar surface, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin rejoined Michael Collins aboard the Command Module and headed back to Earth. Three days later, on July 24, they entered Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 25,000 miles per hour and its exterior reached a temperature of 5,000º F. To protect the crew and the priceless cargo, Columbia's exterior was covered with a heat shield. The Command Module was one of three parts of the complete Apollo spacecraft. The other two were the Service Module and the Lunar Module. The Service Module contained the main spacecraft propulsion system and consumables (oxygen, water, propellants, and hydrogen). The Lunar Module was the part Armstrong and Aldrin would use to descend to the moon's surface. Columbia is the only portion of this historic spacecraft that returned to earth. The Command Module is divided into three compartments: forward, crew, and aft. The forward compartment contained the parachutes and recovery equipment. The aft compartment included 10 reaction control engines, fuel and helium tanks for the roll, pitch and yaw thrusters, and the crushable ribs of the impact attenuation system. The crew compartment has a volume of 210 cubic feet. In all, 12 American astronauts left their footprints in the lunar soil during Project Apollo. More than 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil were collected, sophisticated lunar surface experiment stations were deployed, and thousands of photographs were taken during the six lunar landing missions, yielding a wealth of scientific data that is still being analyzed today. Apollo's total cost was $24 billion in 1968 dollars. Lunar Module 2 MESA (2:38) Lunar Module Columbia (7:30) The Life of Lunar Module 2 (1:32) Exploring the Planets (Gallery 205)
The History of Mars Rovers (2:19) Exploring Mars Curiosity (1:25) Curiosity Rover Mission Animation (5:28) Wrap-up and QuestionNow we have come to the end of the tour. May I close by expressing my deepest appreciation of your interests? To be a docent of such a wonderful group is really an honor of which the Smithsonian might well be proud. I want to thank you all for coming here and joining my tour. I hope that I will have the pleasure of seeing you all again in the future. Have a great day! Thank you.
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