Event name: Air and Space Museum Excursion
National Air and Space Museum, 23 February, 2025
On Sunday February 23rd, I went to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. While there I visited three exhibits; One World Connected, Exploring the Planets, and Destination Moon. I first visited One World Connected. This exhibit focused on Space Travel and the ability to travel the world in one day on an airplane. This exhibit had jet engine and satellite replicas on display, as well as an interactive radio. Next to the radio were many infographics explaining how important radio was to communication before satellites. There were also infographics next to the replica jet engines to explain the engineering advancements made to make sure the engine worked. Most of the information displayed was very easy to understand, so I would say the targeted age was middle schoolers, however they did still have complicated information on display, along with more basic information. Most of the basic information was displayed on interactive screens near the globe projection in the middle of the exhibit. On the screen you could pick which element of migration you wanted to learn about, and it would show you specific migration patterns for the element you chose, along with a short paragraph with some facts. These interactive screens were very effective at conveying important information. Most of the facts I remember from the exhibit were off the screens.
The next exhibit I visited was Destination Moon, which was centered around the advancements in flight that lead us to getting to the moon. They had the flight Capsule from Freedom 7, the first United States manned flight into space, an engine from Apollo 11, along with the actual flight suit Neil Armstrong wore on the moon. This exhibit also had interactive screens where you could click on different parts of the display to get more information about them, along with actual moon rocks that you could touch. This information is targeted at all ages. The information was simple enough for little kids to understand but also had more complex topics that those who lived through the journey to the moon could also enjoy. To me the coolest part of this exhibit was the short film that played on the back wall. The museum pulled video clips from old news segments about the journey to the moon and compiled them together along with videos from inside mission control during the moon landing. This video was a great five-minute way to summarize the historical timeline of the United States' journey to the moon.
The final exhibit I visited was Exploring the Planets and it focused on the solar system and the discoveries within it. They had the Kepler space telescope on display, along with replica rovers, and a giant model of the solar system that hung from the ceiling. On the floor, they had mapped out the solar system model so you could really tell how big the planets are relative to each other. They also had multiple plaques explaining exactly what each replica rover was created to do and where it was sent. This exhibit was focused more on elementary school students, as most of the information about the solar system was things you learned about in elementary school. That is not to say that it did not have information that was more complex, but most was targeted at a younger audience. Most of the information on display was something you could look at, but not necessarily interact with. In the middle of the exhibit, they had a video that went through every rover we have in space, where they are, if we are still getting information from it, etc. I do think the information would have benefited from an interactive game where you controlled a rover.
Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to the Air and Space Museum and am looking forward to going back once it is fully open again.