The two facilities of the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum are located in the Washington DC area – USA, and is the world’s largest collection of historic air and spacecraft specimen. These treasures of science and technology of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science, geology and geophysics are the most complete one in the world.
Artifacts including the Apollo11 command module, or the original Wright “Flyer”, as well as a touchable lunar rock sample are being displayed there.
Inside the other facility, which is connected with the first one by a shuttle bus service, you can find a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Concorde and even the Space Shuttle Enterprise. The ten-storey facility has got also other artifacts suspended from the ceilings.
Other historic memorabilia also include the Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit used for the landing on the Moon’s surface mission. The center has an IMAX theatre and flight simulators, presenting various exhibitions from earth-based and spacecraft history.
The museum offers a huge bag of emotions for any lover of this topic.
HOW TO FIND IT
The two facilities are located in the Washington DC area, one in the National Mall, and the other at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, just outside the city on route 270.
WHAT TO SEE
Orville and Wilbur Wright’s original Wright Flyer, the Enola Gay, which dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the Spirit of St Louis in which Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic. Stop inthe gift shop to buy some astronaut food like freeze-dried ice cream, for your friends.
