The National Air and Space Museum – 24 JUL 2011

There are two buildings that make up the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. One is located in the National Mall and the other near Washington Dulles International Airport. Having been to the National Mall building several times, today I went to see the new building by the airport:

 Above is the main entrance; below is the observation tower. 

As with all Smithsonian museums, the admission is free…however, this one requires a $15.00 parking fee.

I tried to get a shot of Tinky Winky being reflected in the metal sculpture…the purple blob in the center is TW.

Uniform of Brigadier General Jeanne M. Holm, the first women promoted to general grade in the U.S. Air Force (1971):

They had a display about the making of the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen because several scenes were filmed at this museum.

There was one entire hanger dedicated to Space Travel…

It was a big thrill for me to see the full-scale Enterprise test vehicle…possibly the same one I once got to tour the inside and sit in the cockpit. In the early 80’s I worked for Rexnord Specialty Division; they made fasteners for aerospace. As President of their Management Group, I arranged a tour of the Rockwell International plant in El Segundo to tour a Space Shuttle.

The Docent at the museum told me this one was at Rockwell in El Segundo before it went on tour.

It’s not a diaper…it’s a Disposable Absorption Containment Trunk:

It’s not a poop bag…it’s a Fecal Collection Assembly:

The solid waste is dried and stored and returned to Earth for analysis.

However, urine is "vented into space." Does this mean if there is a lot of space travel in the future, one of the hazards could be floating urine?

They had lots of space food on display…here are two example:

Candy Coated Chocolate (but I can see they are M’s).

Above is Chicken and Gravy….yum!

 This propeller reflection worked better:

I heard people telling their children, this helicopter was flown around the world by a women…actually Jennifer Murray flew it around the world, twice!

She set two new records: First Woman to pilot a piston-powered helicopter around the world and First Women to fly a helicopter around the world.

Room for expansion, here’s a hanger they haven’t completed yet:

The view from the observation tower wasn’t very interesting…just trees:

Although, this is a good angle for view the sculpture:

The next level down, they had an air traffic controller’s room:

After all that flight stuff, Tinky Winky decided to get in on the action: