Up, Up, and Away

Of all the many, many museums that make up the Smithsonian Institution, arguably the most well-known is the Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. That was our destination at the start of Washington D.C. day three. Because of its popularity, and the fact that half the museum is currently closed for remodeling, you need timed entry tickets to go right now (so they can manage the number of people inside). We'd set those up ahead of time, for the moment the museum opened.

Things start immediately inside the door, with the original filming model of the Enterprise from the original Star Trek. As part of a recent refurbishment, they've wired it for lighting, so for five minutes at the top of each hour, you can see it looking just like it does on your TV screen -- which we caught as we came in the door. Given how long the model was likely built to last in the 1960s, there's probably a real "ship of Theseus" quality to what's on display here. (How much of the model is really the original? How much of that even still exists after multiple refurbishments?) I don't think that detracts in the slightest from the thrill of seeing it.

The museum is divided into many galleries, and the first we came to was for the Wright Brothers. Extensive displays chronicle their efforts to build the first airplane, detailing all the versions leading up to their success, their bicycle-building background and how it informed their design, and much more. Plus, of course, the original flyer sits right there at the center of the room. Perhaps the most striking thing about it is, frankly, the rest of the museum -- the short window of time in which everything else you can see there came into existence after the original invention. (For example, the Wright's first airplane built expressly for military purposes is in another gallery of the museum; it was built less than a decade after their successful flyer.)

The museum keeps up with the times. Part of one gallery is devoted to drones, displaying one of the first remote-piloted drones used to deliver something (medical supplies). That same gallery displays one of the earliest planes meant for personal use, and oddities like a combination car/plane that detaches from its own wings to become one of the stranger-looking things you might encounter on the road.

My favorite gallery in the museum will surprise no one: it's the crewed space flight area. There, you can see the actual capsules from all three of NASA's 1960s programs. The Mercury capsule is from Alan Shepherd's first flight; it is so shockingly claustrophobic that I don't think I could even sit in it with the door off. Gemini is represented by Gemini VII, the capsule from the mission that tested a rendezvous between craft in space. Apollo is represented by, what else, Columbia -- the command module from Apollo 11. And besides the module itself, the gallery boasts Neil Armstrong's EV suit.

Fictional space travel is represented in the museum by more than just the Enterprise. While the gallery devoted to other planets has replicas of probes like Mariner and Clementine, it also includes a prop Tribble and a set of Spock's ears gifted by the Nimoy family. And if Star Wars is more your thing, hanging in the rafters in the main hall, you can see a full size fighter from the set of the sequel Star Wars movies. More interested in things here on Earth? A gallery on speed boasted a rocket-powered car, and Evel Knievel's motorcycle.

And as I said, all this was only half of what the museum could showcase when fully open and not being remodeled; just this much took us several hours to see.

There's tons to see and do in Washington D.C., but if you should ever find yourself there with limited time, I'd definitely recommend that the Air and Space Museum makes the cut.