From Ars Technica · · 3m
Air and Space Museum completes seven-year renovation
The Smithsonian's flagship museum in Washington, DC reopens its final gallery after nearly $1 billion in work, with new exhibits on living in space.
In brief
The Smithsonian's flagship museum in Washington, DC reopens its final gallery after nearly $1 billion in work, with new exhibits on living in space. The Smithsonian completed a seven-year, nearly one billion dollar renovation of its National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, opening the final gallery on October…
Seven years, nearly $1 billion
The Smithsonian completed a seven-year renovation of the National Air and Space Museum's flagship building in Washington, DC, costing nearly one billion dollars.
Final gallery opens October 30
On October 30, the museum debuted its last-to-open spaceflight exhibition, At Home in Space, devoted to establishing a spacefaring civilization.
Fifty-plus years of living in space
At Home in Space takes visitors on a fifty-plus-year journey of learning how humans can live and work in space continuously and venture beyond Earth orbit.
The story of reaching orbit
Curator Jennifer Levasseur said the gallery tells the story of long-duration spaceflight, from preparation through the space shuttle to twenty-five-plus years on the International Space Station.
“This is the story of long-duration spaceflight in the last few decades. We generally call it 'reaching orbit.'”
Astronaut mock-up at the entrance
The gallery features an overhead mock-up of an astronaut on a robotic arm with a full-size photo mural of the International Space Station as backdrop.
Fully flown spacesuit on display
The gallery displays a fully flown extravehicular mobility unit spacesuit, the first and potentially only public display of complete EMU equipment in the world.
“This, as far as I know, is the first and potentially only public display of a fully flown set of EMU equipment in the world.”
Reusable suits for different sizes
Unlike Apollo-era spacesuits sized to each astronaut, the EMU was designed to be reused, with components swapped to fit astronauts of different sizes.
Bluford and Ride's flight suits
The gallery features Guy Bluford's and Sally Ride's in-flight suits, the shirt-sleeve outfits the first African American and first US woman wore on the space shuttle.
Challenger and Columbia debris
The gallery includes recovered components from the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, only the second public display of fallen orbiter debris after a Kennedy Space Center exhibit in 2015.
Full-size ISS module walkthrough
Visitors can walk through a full-size mock-up of the International Space Station's Destiny module, the US national laboratory, viewing equipment on all sides.
Space station experiments on display
The Destiny module features the flown miniPCR biotech toolkit and MinION portable device used to sequence DNA in space for the first time, plus scent oils showing what space smells like.
First 3D printer used in space
The gallery displays the first three D printer used in space, flown by Made In Space and NASA in twenty fourteen, which produced hundreds of objects from tools to repair parts.
Artemis I capsule coming soon
The gallery concludes with space reserved for the Artemis I capsule, which flew without astronauts to the Moon in twenty twenty-two. A Lockheed Martin scale model holds the place until NASA delivers the real spacecraft.
Wright Flyer fabric on Artemis II
The gallery also displays a piece of Wright Flyer fabric that went to the Moon with Artemis II, connecting early aviation history to modern lunar exploration.
Modern Military Aviation opens next
Following At Home in Space, the gallery Modern Military Aviation will open on November eleven, completing the museum's renovation project.
The one thing
The Smithsonian completed a seven-year, nearly one billion dollar renovation of its National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, opening the final gallery on October 30.
