What to see at the National Museum of Air and Space before its renovation



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WASHINGTON – The National Museum of Air and Space will close two galleries – "Apollo to the Moon" and "Looking to Earth" as part of a seven-year renovation project. Seven other galleries close at the beginning of January.

Most of the museum's main attractions, such as the St. Louis Spirit and the Moon Rock, will still be on display, but hundreds of other objects will disappear from view. These five are worth taking a trip to see over the next month.

Eyes on the ground

This interactive 3D globe, designed by the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is one of the funniest "toys" in the Air and Space Museum. Visitors can use a trackball to navigate a map of the world using data from NASA's gravity recovery satellites and climate experiments to examine the level of water, temperature, and storms. In a gallery that feels a little dusty, it's one of the few exhibitions where kids and grandparents line up to take a closer look.

Lockheed U-2

Beyond the satellites, this gallery focuses on what she calls "Spies from the Sky" and how information obtained from aviation was used from the Civil War to the Cold War. The plane is above a Lockheed U-2, one of the spy planes that have carried out high-altitude missions over the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States. Other hot spots. The gallery also includes items owned by pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose plane was shot down over Russia in 1960, including his prison diary and a carpet that he came across during his detention.

A 12-foot-tall model of the Saturn V, the rocket that sent the man to the moon, and his tower
A lunar mobile vehicle – one of the few test units that is a faithful replica of 'lunar buggies' that have gone into space

F-1 engine of one Saturn V Rocket

To power the Apollo program up to the moon, NASA used the largest and most powerful rocket ever built: the Saturn V. There were five F-1 engines at its base, each of which was used by the crew. a 12-foot diameter, generating 1.5 million pounds of thrust. One of these huge engines is on display at the Museum of Air and Space. A mirror system is used to show what a complete table of five would look like.

Images of the Apollo 17 Landing

Do you like to look out the window while your plane lands? This remarkably sober installation is similar and a million times colder. A reproduction of the lunar module of Apollo 17 offers visitors a glimpse of the final descent of the lunar surface through a window, seen from the astronaut. The actual radio recordings of Commander Eugene Cernan and Pilot Harrison Schmitt describe the film in pictures. real time.

Moon traveling vehicle

The lunar mobile vehicle presented has never been on the moon: the VTRs used in the last three Apollo missions are still sitting on its surface. This one is the final test unit and is "a very close replica of the units that flew." – Text and photos of The Washington Post

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