THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
If your in Washington this must be top of your list of must sees. Bairdstravel could have spent all day here but time was short. The museum is free .
The National Air and Space Museum, the most-visited museum in the world, is home to hundreds of must-see icons. On display is the first Wright brothers airplane, the Apollo 11 command module and many other historic finds, including the space suits worn by the first humans to go to the moon. The museum's other location, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia, showcases still more one-of-a-kind items, including the space shuttle Enterprise and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.
Apollo to the Moon, Gallery 210, 2nd Floor, East Wing
This gallery traces NASA's manned space program beginning with Project Mercury's Freedom 7 (5/5/61); then the Gemini Project (1965-66); followed by the Apollo Program (1967-1972), with Apollo 17 as the last manned exploration of the moon.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, this exhibition presents the Wrights' technical achievements and examines the cultural impact of early powered flight. The centerpiece of the gallery is the original 1903 Wright Flyer, displayed on the ground for the first time since acquired by the Smithsonian in 1948. Also on view are 250 photographs and 150 other artifacts, including the stop watch used to time the first powered flights, a Wright wind tunnel test instrument used in unlocking the secrets of aerodynamics, a reproduction of the Wright Brothers' 1899 experimental kite, and full-size reproductions of their 1900 and 1902 experimental gliders.