Jan 20

Jan 20 Glimpsing the Future: A Visit to the NASM in Washington DC

History, Satellites, Space, Space Travel, Science, Science Education, Museums

By Dennis D. McDonald

“The future ain’t what it used to be!”

I recently visited the Smithsonian‘s half-renovated National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on the Mall in Washington DC with my son and grandson. I came away from the visit with a profound realization of how much has changed science-and-technology-wise since I was a kid.

While visiting the museum we spent most of our time in two exhibits: Destination Moon and Exploring the Planets. I could have spent all day in each of these information-rich areas but there’s a limit to a two-year-old’s patience!

Destination Moon focuses on the “space race” when the US and USSR were duking it out in rocketry and astronautics. While some details are provided on Yuri Gagarin and his spacecraft, the major focus of the exhibit area is on the US and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

Thanks to plexiglass barriers you can get really close to the actual astronaut-bearing reentry vehicles. You can’t help but think how incredibly small these vehicles are. Plus, you can see the actual spacesuit that Neil Armstrong wore when he walked on the moon. I couldn’t help but wonder if there are minute specks of moondust still clinging to it!

As fascinating as the Destinations Moon gallery is, my favorite was Exploring the Planets. It is packed with real and surprisingly small hardware (satellites, rovers, landers) and some of the most amazing digital images of space travel I’ve ever seen. Best of all, this gallery is not dumbed down but provides a plethora of scientific and technical detail. It includes an astonishing fact-based view of what it’s like to stand on planets, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, and our own moon.

I couldn’t help but ponder the significance of what these exhibit represent. This is the world my grandchildren are growing up in, a world where a commercial launches regularly resupply the International Space Station and would-be Japanese astronauts are trained on earthbound re-creations of the lunar surface.

All of this reminds me of a question my daughter asked when she was in high school: “Dad, what is ‘science fiction’?” Without thinking I answered, “Oh, you know, rocket ships and space travel and that sort of thing.” Without skipping a beat, she responded, “But, Dad, we already have rocket ships and space travel!” I stood corrected then – and certainly now!