Were back live now at the Smithsonian National air and space museum where the museum today is celebrating its 40th birthday. It was 40 years ago today that president gerald ford dedicated this museum. In about a half hour, well bring you live coverage of the events celebrating that anniversary. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Our phone lines are open. 2027488900 for those in the eastern or central time zones. If you live out west, 2027488901. Send us a tweet at cspan history or join us on facebook at facebook. Com cspanhistory. As we move outside to inside, one of the displays, and there are so many inside this fabulous museum, is moving beyond earth. And an example of the evolution of americas Space Shuttle program. And joining us again is valerie neal. We saw you just a moment ago in the tape portion. You are the curator, the chair of the space history here at the museum. And lets talk about the shuttle program. No other country had Something Like that. Well, briefly, the
Each week, american artifacts takes views near archives, museums and Historic Sites around the country. Now, a visit to the Smithsonian National air and space Museum Facility near washingtons dulles airport. Well see the museums newest prized possession, the Space Shuttle discovery. And well get a look at the earliest capsules at the beginning of the space age. Im valerie neal, a state history curator at the Smithsonians National air and space museum. And we are at the steven f. Udvarhazy center, our location in Northern Virginia near Dulles International airport. We have two large hangars here, one devoted to aviation, and one devoted to space. And this location has enabled us to bring out of storage hundreds of artifacts that the public were not able to see because they didnt fit into the Main Building on the national mall. We have cemespent some time loo at human space flight in the United States, starting with the space race of the 1960s, carrying through the Space Shuttle era of t
Washingtons dulles airport. Well see the airplanes that have carried americans aloft from the earliest days of the 20th century. Hi. May name is tom crouch. I am the senior curator of aeronautics at the national air around space museum. And we are here this morning at the national air and space museum Housing Center. This is the place where our museum keeps all of its largest objects and some pretty darn spectacular things when you come right down to it. We are standing almost in front of one of my favorite machines. Its the 1903 langley airplane. Aerodrone, as he called it. Samuel langley was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. From the mid 1880s until the time of his death in 1906. He was sort of a selftaught astronomer. He was the founder of the Smithsonian Astro physical observatory and he founded the zoo and some of the museums we have today. But he was really fascinated, and had been since childhood, by the idea of flight. And in the late 1880s, he decided to begi
Were back live now at the Smithsonian National air and space museum, where the museum today is celebrating its 40th birthday. It was 40 years ago today that president gerald ford dedicated this museum. In about a half hour, well bring you live coverage of the events celebrating that anniversary. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Our phone lines are open. 2027488900 for those in the eastern or central time zones. If you live out west, 2027488901. Send us a tweet at cspan history or join us on facebook at facebook. Com cspanhistory. As we move outside to inside, one of the displays, and there are so many inside this fabulous museum, is moving beyond earth. And an example of the evolution of americas Space Shuttle program. And joining us again is valerie neal. We saw you just a moment ago in the tape portion. You are the curator, the chair of the Space History Department here at the museum. And lets talk about the shuttle program. No other country had Something Like that. Well, b
Aviation is americas story. We went from the first power controlled man flight to walking on the moon 66 years. The air and space museum shows you exactly that history. Everything that we have as a special significance to the development of aviation and space in this country. I came and saw this aircraft. I remember it so well. As a small boy. My father explaining to me what it was with the first airplane. To ever fly. Here we are in the same room with the planes the Wright Brothers flew. One of the main perpetrator is to preserve the artifacts forever. Sure you can have reproductions or mockups, but here you have the real thing. It did it first or better than anybody else. You have to stop a little bit and think about the story as you view the object. I always find something marvelous, something that completely surprises me. The Discovery Space shuttle is so significant. And it is so quintessential smithsonian. This is the shuttle that has inspired a generation to realize the importan