Recently, I was given the opportunity to travel to Washington DC for some business. And as I was there, I visited the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. And being an avgeek (aviation geek), I was very excited to see the aircraft that were on display. This will be a review of the National Air and Space museum, I will be breaking the reviews up into individual exhibits, and then rating the whole museum out of 10.
When planning a trip to the National Air and Space museum you’ll notice that admission and tickets are free, just make sure that you have the tickets ready when you enter, as to not hold up the line. Once entering, the first thing you’ll see is that more than half of the museum is closed off due to renovations since 2018. These renovations are predicted to end by summer of 2026. However, as someone who was extremely excited to see specific aircraft said to be on display, such as the X-15 and the Concorde, I was absolutely crushed to find that I wouldn’t be able to see these special aircraft at all.
There are a few exhibits still open, such as all their entire space exhibits, and an exhibit dedicated to early American aviation. This exhibit gets a 8/10 because of a 747 cockpit that you can see but not enter as it is blocked by glass. And a section of a DC-6 with the same concept, you can see the cockpit from inside, however cannot interact with it because of glass blocking it.
Their entire second floor is dedicated to their space exhibits, containing artifacts such as satellites, space suits worn during the moon landing, and many minerals taken from the moon.
Along with their space artifacts, there is one artifact that has never actually been to space. On the second floor of the museum there is an X-wing from Star Wars. This is the prop used in the Star Wars movie; “Rise of Skywalker”.
Also on the second floor is an exhibition titled “Nations of Speed”. This exhibition showcases the fastest vehicles. This includes the fastest unmanned aircraft to ever fly within earth’s atmosphere; the NASA X-43A, an unmanned vehicle that reached speeds of Mach 9.8 (almost 10 times faster than the speed of sound!). Unfortunately the X-43 on display is just a replica, as all NASA test aircraft are not meant to land and be recovered, all of which end up crashing into the ocean.
Other artifacts in the Nations of speed exhibit include the engines to the SR-71 Blackbird; the fastest piloted airplane. The engines to the X-15; the fastest piloted aircraft. As well as various cars and motorcycles that broke their respective speed records. This exhibit alone gets an 8/10, it was very entertaining and informative.
One will also notice when walking around the museum, is that there are many interactive screens for anyone to get a better understanding of the exhibits that they are experiencing at the moment. The screens offer various activities so that anyone can get a visual about whatever the exhibit is about. This interactivity is great to get younger learners entertained and educated, and allows visual learners a simulation as to how things work. This interactivity earns a 9/10.
The second floor also contains a planetarium, essentially a movie theater in a dome to give viewers a better look at planets and our solar system. The show I attended talked about how and why Earth is so habitable, and the conditions on other planets, and reasons why they are not habitable. This also includes the history of planets that are the closest to Earth in terms of hospitality. Such as how Mars was like Earth, with flowing water, millions of years before life existed on Earth. This planetarium is rewarded with a 9/10, as I found the visuals to be very entertaining and informative.
Finally, no trip to the museum would be complete without a pit stop by the gift shop. Not unlike the rest of the museum, the gift shop itself is quite sizable. Also having two floors. There were many many items to choose from. The merchandise ranged from NASA shirts, hoodies and hats, and singular airplane inspired clothing, key chains, and magnets. I, personally purchased a shirt with the original Lockheed Martin logo, and a Skunk works logo on the left sleeve, a. SR-71 Blackbird key chain, and a Remove Before Flight tag key chain (which is a must for any aviation lover to own). And of course, the gift shop to an aviation and space museum wont be complete without airplane models. These airplane models ranged from pre-built diecast and plastic, to thin metal sheets that can be folded into aircraft, like origami, to just plane toys for children, the type with wheels that can wind up and let go. This entire gift shop is rewarded with a 9/10, for the impressive selection of quality merchandise.
In the end, I really enjoyed my trip to the National Air and Space Museum, however for the fact that half the museum was closed, which will affect my final grade on it. With the final add up of the individual exhibits, I reward the National Air and Space Museum an 8/10. I hope that the rest of the museum will be available to the public by the time I return.
