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Good-bye “Beyond the Limits,” Hello “Time and Navigation”
We have been reminded that the retirement of the space shuttle is not only the end of an era, it is also the beginning of a new phase of human space exploration, with new launch vehicles, destinations,...
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Remembering Steve Jobs
Like so many of us, I too was saddened to hear of the death of Steve Jobs last week. I never owned an Apple II, but I recalled very well those early days of personal computing, when one had to choose...
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The STS-135 crew comes for a visit
The National Air and Space Museum was once again honored to host a space shuttle crew this past Friday. This visit was special because it was the STS-135 crew of the shuttle Atlantis, the historic...
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Above Water
When the floods in Thailand appeared in the news recently, my friends and colleagues recommended that I stay away. But how could I? It was only a 4.5 hour flight from China (where I would be...
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A Christmastime Price War—Over a Toy Ray Gun
Along the McDonnell Space Hangar’s south wall in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a case of colorful toys beckons to visitors. Older patrons pause in nostalgia to identify the toys of their youth....
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Packing for Spaceflight
Museum staffers are busy outfitting our new shuttle middeck for spaceflight. No, not the actual crew compartment of Discovery, now on display at the Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. This middeck...
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Let’s just hope it fits…
It takes a lot of people and effort to bring an exhibition from idea to reality. By the time I joined the exhibition team, Time and Navigation had been in development for over five years. The exhibit...
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Are You Sure You Want to Donate This?
“Are you sure you want to donate this?” I asked the intern. “This” was a slightly-used Smartphone, in perfect working condition. The intern, Rebecca Bacheller, was, indeed, willing to donate it. She...
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Stanley Moves In
On October 24, Stanley, winner of a historic robot race, left its home at the National Museum of American History aboard a flatbed truck and arrived safely at its destination, just seven blocks away....
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Shiny Delivery this Holiday Season for the Time and Navigation Exhibition
NTS-2 Satellite Preparation of the upcoming Time and Navigation exhibition is in full swing, and objects are being installed in cases throughout the gallery. In fact, the gallery became a little more...
View ArticleLeonardo da Vinci and Flight
Until the nineteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci was generally known only as a painter. Little or nothing of his sculpture or engineering works survived, and his notebooks, the only surviving evidence...
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Views of Africa at the National Air and Space Museum
This post was originally published on Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa!, a blog created to accompany the eponymous exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian National...
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The Museum’s Oasis of Art
So, you waited in line outside the Museum till sweat trickled down your back. You managed to find the touchable Moon rock amid the swirls of day-glow youth group tee-shirts and fellow photo-snappers...
View ArticleAn Extraordinary Journey: The History of Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex on the...
The possibility of human mechanical flight held particular fascination for Leonardo da Vinci. He produced more than 35,000 words and 500 sketches dealing with flying machines, the nature of air, and...
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Space Shuttle Memories: A Flickr Group
Ray and Margaret Weitekamp at the Kennedy Space Center on June 17, 1983, the day before STS-7, which they watched from the highway. This is my space shuttle memory. On June 17, 1983, the day before...
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Finding History on eBay
One question I’m often asked as a curator is, “do you ever find anything interesting for the museum on eBay?” The answer is yes. This is the story of a particularly interesting find. When developing...
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Sydney the Dog
Meet Sydney. Sydney The newest addition to the Time and Navigation gallery is a life-size bronze statue of a dog named Sydney. Sydney now reclines amiably on the deck of the exhibition’s ship, and...
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The Big Jump
Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria jumps out from the capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, New Mexico on October 14, 2012. Photo courtesy of Red Bull Stratos. The...
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My Space Shuttle Memories, A Flickr Slideshow
What was it like to witness a Space Shuttle launch or landing? For the Moving Beyond Earth (MBE) exhibition about the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and future human spaceflight, the...
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Rummaging in the Archives Tech Files
I suspect that most households have what my parents used to call our “junk drawer,” a place for storing miscellaneous small stuff. Ours was in a handy location, the kitchen. It held scissors, rubber...
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