National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC

We visited the National Air and Space Museum, the most popular of the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D. C. We had to wait in line to get in (along with signing up for digital, timed tickets). The museum is a classic for a reason--a lot of amazing and dramatic stories are told here.

Not an amazing and dramatic exterior, though

The lobby is better

One famous item on display is the Spirit of St. Louis, the airplane that Charles Lindberg used for the first solo transatlantic flight in 1927 (almost a century ago).

Spirt of St. Louis

I was surprise to see, almost across the gallery from the Spirit of St. Louis, an x-wing fighter with an R2 unit on display. 

Drawing attention to the gift shop, no doubt

We visited a few of the permanent exhibits. First was Exploring the Planets, all about our solar system with some stuff about exoplanets (those that orbit other stars in our galaxy).

Exoplanet info

Wonder about planets has been a part of human culture even to prehistoric times. This dual display also shows an ancient gear that was discovered, so we have been fascinated by technology for millennia too!

Historical astronomy and technology

The kids loved the interactive exhibits that let you design solar systems or explore the make-up of various planets.

Building a better world

Rovers we sent to Mars are on display.

Well, mock-ups, not the actual rovers which have not come back

Destination Moon is an exhibit about lunar exploration, starting with a lot of the less-the-accurate speculations about the moon's makeup and inhabitants from over a hundred years ago. Most of the exhibit chronicles the Cold War race to the moon.

Explaining the phases of the moon

Lunar propaganda!

The Soviets were the first to launch an artificial satellite and to send a living creature (a dog) into orbit. The U. S. sent a chimp up in the capsule below. The compartment includes some levers and switches for the chimpanzee to manipulate while in space. The capsule recorded reactions and times to see what sort of effect zero-gravity and confined space would have.

Primate capsule

The Soviets also put the first man in orbit, Yuri Gagarin, though the U. S. Mercury program was not too far behind.

Mercury vs. Vostok space ships

Alan Shepherd rode the Freedom 7 as the first American astronaut in space.

Freedom 7

One corner showed a lot of information about the Space Race, a dramatic component of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Racing to explore

Another display shows various items made for the space program, mostly produced domestically.

Was the big knife to deal with aliens?

The Gemini program sent up multiple astronauts at a time, part of building up skills for an eventual moon landing.

Gemini VII, room for two

The high point was the Apollo program which intended to land men on the Moon.

Apollo lunar suit

Items from Apollo 13

The command module from the Apollo 11 trip is on display. Three astronauts lived and worked in there as they executed the mission that put people on the Moon's surface for the first time.

Command Module Columbia

The underside of the module

Random upside-down plane that we didn't read the display about--make up your own story!

The final gallery we went too was Pioneers of Flight, all about the Wright Brothers' lives and accomplishments.

Statues of Wilbur and Orville Wright

The brothers were in business building and selling bicycles but their hobby was working on powered flight. They spent their spare time working on a machine that would let men fly in a heavier-than-air craft. They did a lot of experimentation and working out of details, spending years before they achieved their success.

One of four extant Wright bicycles

The Wright Flyer from Kittyhawk, North Carolina

The museum has plenty of other galleries that we did not see and will be opening new galleries in 2026, so a large portion of the museum was under wraps for the future. I am sure we will go back.

Book Review: The Wright Brothers A Biography by Fred C. Kelly

The Wright Brothers A Biography by Fred C. Kelly

This biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright focuses almost entirely on the creation of the first heavier than air flying machine and the brothers' aviation career afterward. The books starts with a brief overview of their childhood and how they started their bicycle shop as a natural result of their interest in mechanical things. They were also fascinated by the idea of flying and built many kites and gliders. Their interest quickly turned to the problem of building an engine-powered plane that could sustain flight for long periods. The brothers flew for the first time in 1903 on the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

As their success grew, their fame did not. A lot of newspapers were either skeptical or scoffed at the idea that a machine heavier than air could fly. Many scientists shared (or perhaps inspired) those doubts. The Wrights were not particularly secretive about the project nor did they do much to promote themselves in the early years. At the time, Kitty Hawk was only accessible by boat from the mainland. They chose the area for the windy and generally flat conditions. As they improved their flyer, the Wrights were able to fly just about anywhere with a large enough field for takeoff. They moved their base of operations back to Ohio. By this point, Europeans had more interest and belief than Americans (though the European press was also skeptical), so the brothers toured the continent, demonstrating their plane to the rich, the royal, and the regular folk too. They returned to America where they had exhibitions for crowds and a demonstration for the American government, which finally became interested in the potential uses (mostly military) of airplanes.

The book describes the scientific problems that the Wrights faced as they developed better and better planes. They had not gone to college, so they did most of their work on their own. They developed a wind tunnel to test out various wing shapes and angles. They initially built their own engines, needing to meet the weight and power specifications. Occasionally the book got into more detail than I was interested in but those were short passages. I chuckled a bit at the constant "this flight was a new world record" lines written in the book.

The Wrights filed lots of patents and eventually had to spend a lot of time fighting patent infringers. The book ends with a chapter on the controversy between the Wrights and the Smithsonian Institution. In 1914, one of the patent infringers took an earlier failed flying machine from the Smithsonian, made some modifications, and showed that it could fly. The reporting by the Institution glossed over the significance of the modifications and implied that someone else invented the first heavier than air flying machine. The controversy continued into the 1940s when a new head of the Smithsonian worked with Orville on the clarification and retraction.

The book is a quick and inspiring read. The brothers are interesting, unassuming people who worked hard at their passion. Their success changed the world. The focus is just on the invention of flying, so there is more to their lives that's not covered. Even so, this book is very good reading.

Highly recommended.

College Park Aviation Museum

The College Park Aviation Museum is right next to the College Park Airport, the oldest continuously operating airport in the world.

College Park Aviation Museum

The airport opened in 1909. The US Army was convinced by the Wright Brothers' success to invest in aviation. Wilbur taught military pilots at the airport. The museum acknowledges this history with the very first exhibit.

A model of the original flyer

The model by itself

Wilbur's bust

A mockup of Wilbur's hangar (with holiday decorations)

The Wright B Flyer was the first military plane and used to break many records. For example, Lieutenant Henry "Hap" Arnold was the first person to fly over one mile high in June 1912. This replica was provided by the Wright Experience.

Hap and his flyer

Wright B Flyer

The Curtis JN-4D (Jenny) was used during World War I by the allies to train pilots. After the war, it was popular in airmail. This plane is a restored original.

Curtis JN-4D (Jenny)

Viewed from above

The Berliner Helicopter was invented in 1920 by Emile Berliner and his son Henry. The aircraft made the first controlled vertical flight at College Park Airfield.

Berliner Helicopter

Berliner founded a company in the 1930s that built the Ercoupe (named after their company Engineering and Research Corporation or ERCO). The plane was designed for easy and safe flight.

Ercoupe cockpit

Ercoupe plane

The museum has plenty of interactive exhibits. The kids' favorite was the Imagination Plane, in which they could sit and pretend to fly.

Imagination Plane gets new pilots

Getting ready to go

Taking the wheel

We sampled almost every simulator available, of which they are many.

A realistic control panel

An easy simulator

More complicated simulator

Getting on the easiest simulator

Climbing out on a wing

Dressing up was a fun option as well.

Latest lady aviator

Especially fascinating to everyone was a demonstration of aerodynamics that involved a jet of air and a ball that floated in the air. Everyone wanted to try it.

Most popular exhibit

The museum has a diorama of the old airport and a fun shop.

Airport model

More of the model

Shopping

The museum isn't large but is fun and informative.

The display hall

More of the display hall

Ready to make our exit!