Location: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Date: February 23, 2025

The first gallery I went to was One World Connected. The focus of this gallery was on the evolution of communications technology across history, showcasing many items from old-fashioned radios to modern computers designed for children, to satellites and airplanes. In this sense, the focus of the gallery seemed to be on aerospace and electrical engineering across many decades. As mentioned before, one invention from this gallery was the One Laptop per Child, which is a small device made in the 2010s to teach children about the internet. The information is given with an example of the actual object, along with a written description. Another invention was an old television. Once again, the object itself is provided alongside a brief description. Finally, there were some satellites shown across the gallery. Same as before, panels were describing them. Because of the easy-to-understand descriptions of these items, someone of any educational background could have a positive experience in this gallery. One World Connected also touched on the future of the environment, with interactive screens showcasing climate change, deforestation, declining ocean health, etc. These screens were integrated throughout the entire hall, and the ability to interact with these as much as you want supports the claim that anyone can get a lot of information here. I thought they did a good job at making these screens effective, containing a lot of information in an easy-to-follow format, especially for children who don’t want to read a whole paragraph. Other immersive components in the hall were a large 3d globe, and a simulation of looking out of the ISS window. Similarly, these components had a lot of educational value to them regardless of background.

The next gallery I went to was Destination Moon. This was my favorite hall of all, exploring topics in planetary science, astronomy, and geology, while also covering a lot of concepts in aerospace engineering like rockets, engines, thermodynamics, and materials science. One invention shown here was the Mercury Primate Capsule, designed to send Ham the chimpanzee to space. The capsule itself is shown inside of a case, with text describing its function alongside a picture of Ham himself. Other specimens shown with such descriptions were many different examples of the gear that astronauts would wear on their missions. Each piece was labeled with a little bit of text describing its function. A third concept shown was a variety of different materials for the Apollo heatshield. This goes into the materials science as mentioned before, where things like stainless steel, fiberglass honeycomb, and thermal coating are all shown side-by-side and labeled, though for this, each material isn’t described individually. Once again, the integration of interactive and immersive components such as videos, the interactive cabin design activity, and more screens, you can tell that the museum was designed to be fit for any audience. These interactive components were very effective in my opinion, as the timeline video helped me remember some of the events during the space race against the Soviet Union.




Finally, I visited the Exploring the Planets gallery. This gallery had aspects of planetary science, astronomy, geology, and biology present. Many samples of rocks from across the solar system were on display, with text describing each one. Basalt, meteorites, anorthosite, among many others, were available to read about and touch, though some rocks were encased. Also shown was an interactive orrery which I believe modeled Jupiter and its moons (many children were surrounding it, so I couldn’t get a good look). A physical representation of lunar orbits is really good to help children understand it, rather than reading about it or watching a video. By turning it into a game, they are probably more likely to remember it and be interested in space. A third item on display was a collection of Mars and lunar rovers. They were shown behind glass with a constructed environment meant to look like where they would be deployed, alongside a description. The extra work of creating a space around the rover could be quite effective in creating an association between space rovers and other space forms for kids, even if they don’t have the attention span to read anything. The orrery, as mentioned above, and the walk-in video room, alongside screens and other videos, served as the main interactive pieces of this exhibit. The orrery and walk-in video room in particular seemed to be the most beneficial, as they created an immersive experience and allowed you to go at your own pace to truly get the most out of the museum experience. That, and the walk-in video section felt like a mini planetarium which was cool.



Though astronomy is difficult to portray in museums, it was able to be effectively sprinkled throughout the three required halls. One World Connected was able to show what space looks like from the perspective of the International Space Station, Destination Moon showed the science behind the Eagle lunar module, and Exploring the Planets explained orbits and differences between planets, albeit all in a very basic way. A science-focused museum like this one is always incorporating new information, and the current revamp of much of the museum did indeed introduce many modern elements. For example, one timeline screen in One World Connected was updated to the 21st century, including new communications technology like WhatsApp. Additionally, climate change was shown on screens here, which our knowledge of is ever-expanding. But probably the most recent change to the museum was a poster describing the Artemis mission, which is still currently in progress. In a few years, when the Artemis mission is completed, I would expect to see this poster removed, and the hall being updated depending on the results of the mission. I think it’s cool that we are living through this historical moment, and that if I go back to this museum later on, I can see something that I was alive for, which is not the case for most of the galleries.

Before this excursion, I had not been to the Air and Space Museum for around a decade, and with all of the changes to the museum as well as my increased understanding compared to when I was in elementary school, I was able to take away a lot from this trip, while still seeing some familiar pieces in the airplane section below.