The Smithsonian National air and space museum shows us artifacts that tell the story of Space Exploration from the moon to mar mars. Each week american artifacts takes viewers into archives, museums and Historic Sites around the country. Up next we visit the Smithsonian National air and space museum located on the National Mall in washington, d. C. Our tour guide is valerie neal, head of the Space History Department at the museum who shows us artifacts that tell the story of Space Exploration from the moon to mars. Im valerie neal. Were in the boeing milestones of flight hall at the center of the museum and this is the hall where we display the pioneering aircraft and spacecraft that transform the modern world. When this Museum Opened in july of 1976 almost every space artifact on display had recently been in the news. This was very much a museum of contemporary spaceflight and it was for most people their first chance to see what had been lauded in the 1960s and early 1970s during thi