National Air and Space Museum. Washington DC

[obiwan27]

Back in 1990/91 I was travelling on my OE which included visits to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. I have a number of photos taken while visiting this awesome place. To start with to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing are the following:



Mercury capsule




Gemini Capsule








Apollo capsule. This one is the actual Apollo 11 Command Module.










The LEM, with the display set up to recreate Armstrong and Aldrin's walk on the Moon.




A selection of spacesuits from each of the missions. Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. The Apollo one may possibly be that worn by Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mssion.

More to come in due course.

[flyjoe180]

Great photos and timely to put them up. Cheers.

[obiwan27]

Oh, and here's something for Star Trek fans. The original filming model of the 'USS Enterprise' for the 'Original' Star Trek series.

[timmo]

Great photos- It is on my 'bucket list' to go an have a look around this and witness a rocket launch of some kind (A shuttle launch I hope)

[oldnavy]

Excellent stuff. Thanks for sharing. My apologies for not being much of a photographer, but I would like to share some museum experience I have been lucky enough to collect over the past few months. Anyone travelling over yonder should try to see the out station National Air and Space Museum near Dulles (Washington International Airport) as well. It's also outstanding. Along with Enola Gay and thousands of other gobsmacking exhibits, they have a space shuttle there, one of the prototypes, which will soon be replaced by a real one. The existing museum piece is then being lobbied for by the Evergreen Air and Space Museum over in Oregon. Now there you will find the Spruce Goose, along with some excellent and appropriate historical aircraft/objects. An X15 and an SR71 for starters.

USA certainly has some great aviation history and some superb visionaries! I certainly appreciate the fact that they manage to maintain a sense of adventure and exploration whilst everyone else seems to want to curl up in the forest!!! ;D

[shorty]

While we are posting Apollo related photos here are three from a trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston taken in 1985
First up is the Apollo 17 Command Module

Next is Lunar Module Test Article used for training the crews

and finally the same item with one of the spare Lunar Rovers in front.

[obiwan27]

Nice pics guys :-) It's amazing to look in the open hatch of the Command Modules and see all of the switches and dials, just like a sixties-era jet fighter/bomber...man those guys had guts to fly to the moon and back in that set up. A huge achievement given the technology available at the time.....

[Deleted]

I have been and seen all of these over the years and I found them fascinating but my overwhelming thought was you would have to be nuts to go anywhere in these things - even above the ground - but going to the moon in one - yeah right.

[FlyNavy]

history.nasa.gov/alsj/navyastros.html

Panel of Apollo Astronauts:

Armstrong, Neil A. (Mr.) Navy also in Korean War before becoming a test pilot
Cernan, Eugene A., Captain, USN (ret.)
Lovell, James A., Captain, USN (ret.)
Schirra, Walter M., Captain, USN (ret.)
Shepard, Alan B., Rear Admiral, USN (ret.)

"After decision to launch astronauts on military rockets, NASA agreed to manage the program but said that (with one exception) all of its test pilots were old with long gray beards. Eisenhower opted to select astronauts from among military test pilots. An equitable distribution among the services provided three from the Air Force, three from the Navy, and one Marine: "I didn't know if that meant one Marine was worth three Navy..."

MY COMMENT: Navy chaps would be used to sitting in a rusty bucket of bolts taking ages to get anywhere. Nothing different in space it looks like. And of course I am envious! ;D