Center for research into the history and science of aviation and spaceflight is the fifth most visited museum in the world, and the second most visited museum in the United States

How to Get There

Head southeast on Scott Cir NW toward Rhode Island Ave NW. Exit the traffic circle onto Massachusetts Ave NW. Keep right to stay on Massachusetts Ave NW. At the traffic circle, take the 1st exit onto 14th St NW. Turn left onto Independence Ave SW.

Overview

The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, was established in 1946 as the National Air Museum and opened its main building on the National Mall near L'Enfant Plaza in 1976. In 2018, the museum saw approximately 6.2 million visitors, making it the fifth most visited museum in the world, and the second most visited museum in the United States. The museum contains the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, the Friendship 7 capsule which was flown by John Glenn, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1 which broke the sound barrier, the model of the starship Enterprise used in the science fiction television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and the Wright brothers' Wright Flyer airplane near the entrance.

The National Air and Space Museum is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics. Almost all space and aircraft on display are originals or the original backup craft.

Architecture

Because of the museum's close proximity to the United States Capitol, the Smithsonian wanted a building that would be architecturally impressive but would not stand out too boldly against the Capitol building. St. Louis-based architect Gyo Obata of HOK designed the museum as four simple marble-encased cubes containing the smaller and more theatrical exhibits, connected by three spacious steel-and-glass atria which house the larger exhibits such as missiles, airplanes and spacecraft. The mass of the museum is similar to the National Gallery of Art across the National Mall, and uses the same pink Tennessee marble as the National Gallery.Built by Gilbane Building Company, the museum was completed in 1976. The west glass wall of the building is used for the installation of airplanes, functioning as a giant door.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "National Air and Space Museum", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0