James S. McDonnell Space Hangar

- Permanent
West of Aviation Hangar
Some 160 large space and missile artifacts and 500 smaller space history artifacts are on view to illustrate the scope of space exploration history as organized around the following 4 main themes: rocketry and missiles, human spaceflight, application satellites, and space science. Highlights include:

• Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101), which flew landing tests for the shuttle program in the 1970s
• An unflown Mercury series spacecraft
• Gemini 7 space capsule, flown by Frank Borman and James Lovell on their two-week orbital endurance mission in 1965
• Apollo command module Boilerplate, used by Navy personnel to train for shipboard retrieval procedures
• Spacelab Laboratory Module
• Mobile Quarantine Facility #3, 1 of 4 Airstream trailers built by NASA to isolate astronauts in order to prevent the spread of any lunar-based contagions ("moon germs"); used by the crew of Apollo 11 after their return to Earth
• 69-foot floor-to-ceiling Redstone missile
• CRAY-1 Supercomputer
• A collection of space suits
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind Mothership model, used for the filming of the movie of the same name
• A case of popular culture space toys
• Anita, a spider used for web formation experiments aboard Skylab

Cases: Balloonamania

- Permanent
Boeing Aviation Hangar
The commotion created when the Montgolfier brothers sent the first successful unmanned balloon aloft in 1783 in France was as great as that created by the Wright Brothers' first flight a century later. Because communication worked differently in the 18th century, historic events were recorded visually on a variety of objects from clocks to teacups. Some 400 objects from the museum's collection of ballooning memorabilia illustrate the impact of ballooning upon the public's imagination of the day both in Europe and America. Included in the 2 exhibition cases are such items as ceramic saucers; ashtrays; pocket watches; paperweights; boxes of tortoiseshell, ivory, and amber; and 18th-century walnut chairs -- all beautifully decorated with ballooning scenes. Also on view is the barometer carried by American physician John Jeffries on the first balloon crossing of the English Channel in January 1785.

Boeing Aviation Hangar

- Permanent
Main Level
Some 161 aircraft are currently on view to illustrate the scope of aviation history, including military, commercial, business, sports, and pre-1920 aviation and vertical flight (helicopters). Highlights include:

• The Pathfinder Plus, a high-altitude, solar-powered, unmanned experimental aircraft, went on view early March 2007. See related article in Smithsonian magazine: May 2007, pp. 42.
• The Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, the 1st non-stop solo airplane flown around the world without refueling in 2005 by Steve Fossett (donated to the Smithsonian on May 23, 2006).
• SR-71 Blackbird: This reconnaissance aircraft is the world's fastest flying airplane in the atmosphere (donated to the Smithsonian by the Air Force on March 6, 1990).
• Air France Concorde 205 Fox Alpha: This 27-year-old aircraft flew at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound.
• Enola Gay (Boeing B-29): This bomber helped to end WWII.
• Grumman Goose: This amphibian is Grumman's 1st twin-engine monoplane and its 1st aircraft to enter commercial airline service
• Boeing 307 Stratoliner: This is the 1st airliner to have a pressurized fuselage; 1st flown in 1938.
• Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation: Known as the Connie, this plane, introduced in 1951, shortened transcontinental travel by an astounding 5 hours
• Langley Aerodrome A: This craft represents the failed attempt at human flight by Samuel Pierpont Langley (Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1887-1906)
• Biplanes, gliders (e.g., Bensen B-6 Gyroglider), ultralights, and aerobatic planes (e.g., Little Stinker, flown by Betty Skelton) suspended from the ceiling
• Several helicopters, including a Bell UH-1H "Huey" and the Bell LongRanger Model 206L, Spirit of Texas (spring 2010), in which H. Ross Perot Jr. and Jay Coburn completed the 1st around-the-world helicopter flight, Sept. 1-30, 1982
• Artifacts of varying sizes (e.g., uniforms, equipment, aircraft models, etc.) on view in a number of glass-fronted cases
• Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the 1st aircraft to fly mail, has been moved from the Mall museum (fall 2009) and is on view here while it is being restored

Case: Japanese American Pioneers of the Jet Age

- Indefinitely
Near Dulles International Airport, Rt. 28 & Air & Space Pkwy.
In 1955, Pan American World Airways -- in an effort to become the pre-eminent carrier for routes over the Pacific -- recruited Japanese American stewardesses as ambassadors to the growing tide of world travelers and established an Asian language base in Honolulu. Photographs and such memorabilia as uniforms, flight bags, and scrapbooks provide a peak at the role of these Japanese America stewardesses.

World War II Prints by Robert Taylor

- Rotating Exhibition
1st Floor, near Claude Moore Education Center
On view are prints by Robert Taylor that depict World War II.