National Air & Space Museum, part 1: Milestones of Flight

 Living in DC is living in a city with an embarrassment of riches in galleries, monuments, museums and parks. I spent time today at The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It was an amazing visit. The last time I had been there, it was under so much renovation, that it was just disappointing. This time I came away feeling to amazed and proud of the nation's history and expertise in the fields of aviation and astronomy. I will share images from the museum in little snippets for your appreciation. Here is the first...from the entrance hall of "Milestones of Flight".

National Air & Space Museum, part 2: Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise NCC - 1701

 Here are the second images. The reason for my visit really, too. To see the refurbished original model for the Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise. There was also an original uniform. Again, a museum with an embarrassment of riches, right? Happy 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek. I was there, watching it on the TV at the age of 6.

National Air & Space Museum, part 3: Entrance Murals

 One of my favorite things at the Air and Space museum are a pair of murals in the main hall. One is my Eric Sloane, whose larger body of work is an homage to the American landscape and our pedestrian architecture. The other is by Robert McCall and both are worth the taking of the time to admire.

National Air & Space Museum, part 4: Early Flight

The Early Flight gallery gets my attention off the top for its mention of Langley--being that I live a stone's throw from Langley Park (named for the early aviator). 

 I also love the little delicate models and the whole notion of early flight.

 You see a model of one of the Wright brothers early adaptations of their plane--this one meant to drop a bomb in war: were it all started, folks.

 Then there is the lovely, detailed model of "La Minerve". A steam-punker's dream vessel, eh?

National Air & Space Museum, part 5: America By Flight

The America In Flight hall is a whirling confection of airplanes! You get to visit the cone of the flagship DC-7 "Vermont". I love the comparison between planes and trains, too.

 Trains or Planes!?

 The interior model was so reminiscent of a passenger train's design!

 You get to enter one of the flagship DC-7's and experience the cockpit and a 1st class suite.  But the time I traveled on one, it wasn't nearly so quaint!

National Air & Space Museum, part 6: Space Race

As a child I was captivated by the Skylab space station, the Apollo-Soyuez experiment and as an adult the Hubble Space telescope. They're all here along with a history of rockets in all their multistoried grandeur. You can also see the Apollo 11 command module.

 The Skylab main module, visitors can enter it from the second floor and see the inside.

 The missiles rise up from the missile pit to rise 5 stories and more in such majesty.

 The Apollo-Soyuz mission was a milestone in Russian-U.S. detente and to see them here really feeds my sense of nostalgia.

 Self-portrait in the Apollo heat shield!

 The Hubble Space Telescope prototype--another milestone in American scientific ingenuity.

 Apollo 11 capsule.