Special holiday hours
at the Museum in Washington, DC: From Tuesday, December 26 through Saturday, December 30 the Museum will be open until 7:30 pm. Udvar-Hazy Center hours remain the same, with a closing time of 5:30 pm.
|
|
MUSEUM NEWS
Road Trip! Apollo 11 Command Module Goes Across Country
On September 28, the Apollo 11 Command Module
Columbia departed the Udvar-Hazy Center, leaving the Smithsonian for the first time in 46 years for the traveling exhibition
Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission. This national treasure had undergone preservation and conservation by Museum experts in the months prior to its departure. The exhibition’s two-year national tour will celebrate the approaching 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and bring the command module and more than 20 one-of-a-kind artifacts to four of the top museums in the country.
Columbia will return to a place of honor in the new exhibition
Destination Moon, scheduled to open in 2021 as part of the downtown Museum's transformation
announced in last month's issue.
Read more and see the tour schedule. The photo above shows the exhibition at Space Center Houston.
|
|
DO YOU KNOW?
Slow But Deadly
On June 4, 1942, at the Battle of Midway,this airplane destroyed four Japanese carriers, helping to alter the course of World War II. Can you name this plane? It is on display in
Sea-Air Operations at the Museum in Washington, DC.
Answer
|
|
GIVE THE GIFT OF MEMBERSHIP
A Great Idea for Aviation and Space Fans
This holiday season give the gift of membership in the National Air and Space Society! A year-long membership is a wonderful gift for enthusiasts of aviation and space history. The gift recipient will receive, among other benefits, the National Air and Space Society 2018 wall calendar, featuring artists' depictions of the Museum’s exhibitions as they will look after the Museum's transformation.
|
|
IN THE SHOP
As the Museum begins work on transforming the Museum in Washington, DC, experts in preservation, conservation, and restoration are preparing the artifacts that will fill the new exhibition spaces. In this new What's Up column, we will feature projects related to that endeavor.
Not Your Standard Restoration Project
Perhaps the most time-consuming among the artifacts being prepared for new exhibitions is the restoration work currently being carried out on the
Lincoln-Standard H.S. biplane. Museum specialists Chris Redderson and Tony Carp, seen above preparing to remove fabric from part of the fuselage, have been tasked with turning back the clock and presenting the Lincoln-Standard as it would have looked early in its service life so it can be displayed in the updated
America by Air gallery.
The tattered fabric, period-incorrect components, and any underlying structural issues have to be remedied. To date, work has been progressing rapidly on the rudder and vertical fin; damaged or rotted wood has been replaced; corroded metal components have been treated and repainted; and the whole structure has received fresh coats of protective varnish. The team has also been manufacturing jigs and refining their methods for fabricating bent-wood components such as wing tip bows and rib cap strips. This careful preparatory work has allowed Chris and Tony to begin manufacturing replacement parts with near production-line efficiency. While the team is pleased with their current rate of progress, they are anything but complacent. There is still much work to do before this aircraft can take its place as a centerpiece of the renovated
America by Air exhibition.
|
|
THIS MONTH IN HISTORY
The Little Satellite That Couldn't
December 6, 1957. Sixty years ago, two months after the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik*, the United States responded with a Navy satellite,
Vanguard. Unfortunately, the rocket carrying the Vanguard TV–3 satellite lifted only a meter off the ground and exploded, sending TV–3 sputtering across the sands of Cape Canaveral, Florida. Newspapers around the world nicknamed the little satellite “Kaputnik,” “Flopnik,” and “Dudnik.”
But the U.S. eventually won the space race by becoming the first to land humans on the Moon, and in fact, the last Moon landing,
Apollo 17, also took place in December -- 45 years ago on December 11, 1972.
*See
Air & Space magazine story about Sputnik below, under "From Our Partners."
|
|
ON VIDEO
Start With a Curtiss JN-4D Trainer, Add One Pontoon...
In this Ask an Expert talk, aeronautics curator Laurence Burke discusses the Curtiss N-9H. Primarily trainers, planes of this type were the first to make flights out of sight of land. (19:35)
|
|
FROM OUR PARTNERS
Air & Space
Magazine
Smithsonian Channel
Watch these short segments from Smithsonian Channel shows.
Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater, Washington, DC and
Airbus IMAX Theater, Udvar-Hazy Center
Now Playing:
Justice League
Upcoming Feature Films:
December 1 through December 7 -
Dunkirk
December 14 -
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Upcoming Sci-Fi Sundays:
December 10 – Double-Feature:
Space Balls and
Starship Troopers
Visit
si.edu/IMAX for more information and to purchase tickets.
Smithsonian Store
A great gift idea, this authentic aloha shirt features the B-24 Liberator, F4U Corsair, B-17 Flying Fortress, P-40 Warhawk, and P-51 Mustang.
|
|
LAST MONTH'S POLL RESULTS
November's question: If you could work at the National Air and Space Museum, which job would you want the most? Choices: Curator, Exhibit Designer, Collections Specialist, Education Specialist, Archivist.
November's results: Out of 289 responses, 108 people (37%) wanted to be a collection specialist, the experts who preserve, restore, and care for the Museum's artifacts. Second choice was curator at 24%, and education specialist was third at 17%. Next came Archivist at 13%, and finally exhibit designer at 8%. It's not hard to understand that having a hand in taking care of famous and historic aircraft, spacecraft, and related small objects would be a desirable job to have.
|
|
Which flight demonstration squadron would you most like to be a member of?
|
U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, flying the F-16 Flying Falcon
|
|
|
U.S. Navy Blue Angels, flying the F/A-18 Hornet
|
|
|
|
|
|
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
At the Museum in Washington, DC
Ingenuity Festival
With special guest planet-hunter Natalie Batalha of the Kepler mission
November 30, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Featuring planet-hunter Natalie Batalha of the Kepler mission
November 30, 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Stargazing at the Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory
November 30, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Featuring the rock band, Max Impact
December 1, 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 1:00 pm
At the Udvar-Hazy Center
There are no events in December at the Udvar-Hazy Center except for those listed below.
Recurring Activities at Both Locations
|
|
Transformation-Related News
Recently, Museum specialists moved the World War II-era
Sikorsky JRS-1 amphibian seaplane from the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar to display in the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center to make room for artifacts needing preservation and restoration as part of the downtown Museum's transformation. The JRS-1 is the only aircraft in the Museum that was at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese launched their surprise attack. It is the sole surviving JRS-1 amphibian. Further plans for the seaplane are on hold until after transformation is complete.
|
|
Don't Hang These Posters with Tape!
This
American Airlines poster (circa 1967) advertises service to Toronto, Ontario, with a collage of Canadian-themed illustrations that form a maple leaf. It is an example of the more than 1,300 posters in the Museum's collection focusing primarily on advertising for aviation-related products and activities. Among other areas, the collection includes 19th century ballooning exhibition posters, early 20th century airplane exhibition and meet posters, and 20th century airline ads. The collection is a unique representation of the cultural, commercial, and military history of aviation and they can be viewed on our
website.
|
|
GET OUR APP
Enhance your museum experience, get an in-depth look at our collection, and take the Museum with you wherever you go.
|
|
Stay Connected
Use hashtag #airandspace to join the conversation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|