In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”
The motives behind Smithson’s bequest remain mysterious. He never traveled to the United States and seems to have had no correspondence with anyone here. Some have suggested that his bequest was motivated in part by revenge against the rigidities of British society, which had denied Smithson, who was illegitimate, the right to use his father’s name. Others have suggested it reflected his interest in the Enlightenment ideals of democracy and universal education.
Smithson died in 1829, and six years later, President Andrew Jackson announced the bequest to Congress. On July 1, 1836, Congress accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust. In September 1838, Smithson’s legacy, which amounted to more than 100,000 gold sovereigns, was delivered to the mint at Philadelphia. Recoined in U.S. currency, the gift amounted to more than $500,000.
After eight years of sometimes heated debate, an Act of Congress signed by President James K. Polk on Aug. 10, 1846, established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust to be administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian.
Milestones of Flight
The Museum's grand entry hall, Milestones of Flight showcases a truly awesome collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft that represent epic achievements in aviation and space flight. The place of honor at the center of the gallery is reserved for the 1903 Wright Flyer, which is temporarily on exhibit in its own gallery upstairs. Some of the other aviation achievements celebrated here: Charles Lindbergh's solo trip across the Atlantic in his Spirit of St. Louis; the first American jet aircraft, the Bell XP-59A Airacomet; the Bell X-1 in which "Chuck" Yeager first broke the mythical "sound barrier"; and the fastest aircraft ever flown, the North American X-15.Some space triumphs represented here: the Mercury capsule Friendship 7 flown by John Glenn; the Apollo 11 command module Columbia from the first lunar landing mission; Mariner, Pioneer, and Viking planetary explorers; and the first privately developed, piloted vehicle to reach space, SpaceShipOne. You can even touch a Moon rock here.NOTE: The 1903 Wright Flyer is currently located in The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age. It will return to Milestones of Flight when that special exhibition closes.
The Wright Brothers
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the 1903 Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. It flew forward without losing speed and landed at a point as high as that from which it started.
With Orville Wright as pilot, the airplane took off from a launching rail and flew for 12 seconds and a distance of 37 meters (120 feet). The airplane was flown three more times that day, with Orville and his brother Wilbur alternating as pilot. The longest flight, with Wilbur at the controls, was 260 meters (852 feet) and lasted 59 seconds.
The Flyer, designed and built by the Wright brothers, was one step in a broad experimental program that began in 1899 with their first kite and concluded in 1905, when they built the first truly practical airplane. The basic problems of mechanical flight, lift, propulsion, and control were solved in the Wright design.
The 1903 Wright Flyer made four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, the best covering 852 feet in 59 seconds. It was the first heavier-than-air, powered aircraft to make a sustained, controlled flight with a pilot aboard.
The Wrights used their proven canard biplane configuration which was rooted in their initial 1899 kite design. Key to the Flyer's success was its three-axis control system, which featured wing-warping for lateral balance, a moveable rudder, and an elevator for pitch control.The right wing was four inches longer than the left to compensate for the engine being heavier than and mounted to the right of the pilot. The wings were rigged with a slight droop to reduce the effects of crosswinds.Gift of the Estate of Orville Wright
Spirit of St. Louis
On May 21, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis" 5,810 kilometers (3,610 miles) between Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, and Paris, France, in 33 hours, 30 minutes. With this flight, Lindbergh won the $25,000 prize offered by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first aviator to fly an aircraft directly across the Atlantic between New York and Paris. When he landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris, Lindbergh became a world hero who would remain in the public eye for decades.
America by Air
Flying was new and daring in the early years of the 20th century. Traveling by airplane was rare. Airlines, airliners, airports, air routes—none of these existed. But by century's end, you could travel to almost anywhere in America by air in a matter of hours. How did this revolutionary change happen?America by Air explores the history of air transportation in the United States and shows how the federal government has shaped the airline industry, how improvements in technology have revolutionized air travel, and how the flying experience has changed. Highlights include a vintage Curtiss Jenny; Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor, Boeing 247 and DC-3 airliners; a cockpit simulation of an Airbus A320; and a nose from a Boeing 747 jumbo jet that you can enter.
Douglas DC-3
The DC-3 was a descendant of the DC-1 and was TWA's answer to United's Boeing 247. The DC-1 incorporated Jack Northrop's multicellular wing construction and light yet powerful engines, and carried 12 passengers in relative comfort. The DC-2 production model that followed has 14 seats. The 21-seat DC-3, later able to accommodate 28 or more passengers, was originally designed as a sleeper - the DST - to carry passengers overnight from New York to Los Angeles. With a full load, it was the first transport airplane that could fly passengers without mail and still make a profit. The DC-3's streamlined, versatile design and strong wing construction made it an exceptional aircraft; at least 400 of these airplanes are still flying today.
Boeing 747 forward fuselage
Designed originally for Pan American to replace the 707, the giant Boeing 747 revolutionized long-distance air travel when it entered service in 1970. Carrying two and a half times more passengers than the 189-seat 707, the 400-seat 747 offered dramatically lower seat-mile costs and therefore much greater efficiency.
Sea-Air Operations
You don't enter this gallery; you come aboard. The shrill whistle of a bosun's call sounds as you cross onto the quarterdeck of the mythical aircraft carrier USS Smithsonian. Inside is a scaled-down re-creation of a hangar deck bay. The surrounding structures and equipment are from an actual aircraft carrier.You can poke around in a ready room, a combined living room and briefing area, or go upstairs and visit the navigation bridge and PriFly, the ship's air traffic control center. From these two rooms you can watch "cat shots" and "traps" (takeoffs and landings) filmed on a U.S. Navy carrier. Balconies overlook the four carrier aircraft in the hangar bay: a Boeing F4B-4 biplane, Grumman F4F Wildcat, Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless, and Douglas A-4C Skyhawk. Also here are exhibits on carrier warfare in World War II and on modern carrier aviation.
Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight
This gallery contains an impressive, eclectic assortment of aircraft and exhibits. A common theme unites them: all have to do with people who pushed the existing technological—or social—limits of flight. Each aircraft or exhibit represents an unprecedented feat, a barrier overcome, a pioneering step.Things to see here include the Fokker T-2, the airplane that made the first nonstop, coast-to-coast flight across the United States; the Douglas World Cruiser Chicago, which completed the first round-the-world flight; a Lockheed Sirius flown by Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh and a Lockheed Vega flown by Amelia Earhart; the Explorer II high-altitude balloon gondola; the first helicopter to circumnavigate the world; Patty Wagstaff's Extra 260 aerobatic airplane; and "Black Wings," an exhibit on African Americans and aviation.
Bell 206L-1 Longranger II "Spirit of Texas"
In this aircraft, H. Ross Perot Jr. and J. Covurn Completed the first round-the-world flight by helicopter. They departed Dallas, Texas, on September 1, 1982, and returned 29 days later after flying over 26 countries. They flew an average of eight and a half hours a day, refueled 56 times, and encountered no major mechanical problems along the way. Powered by an Allison 250-C28B turbine engine, the LongRanger is a typical helicopter built for business and utility use. The Spirit of Texas was modified for its round-the-world trip. Nonessential items were removed and an extra fuel tank was added, along with special safety, communication, and navigation equipment. The aircraft was painted bright colors to enhance its visibility.
Neither Perot nor Coburn had landed a helicopter on a container ship before, especially one bobbing in 12-foot, typhoon-generated, swells in the middle of the Pacific. They piced up the radio beacon from the SS President McKinley about 250 miles out. A procedure had been devised by which Perot would be guided in to touchdown by a crew member on the ship. As it happened, he made one pass over the ship, returned, and landed on his first attempt. Such was the motion of the vessel that he was not sure he was down until Coburn reported that members of the crew were tying the skids to the platform.
Space Race
Soon after World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union became locked in a global conflict pitting democracy against communism. Space became a critical theater in this Cold War, as each side competed to best the other's achievements in what became known as the Space Race.This gallery tells about that U.S.-Soviet space rivalry and its aftermath, from the military origins of the Space Race, through the race to the Moon and the development of reconnaissance satellites, to cooperative ventures between the two former rivals and efforts to maintain a human presence in space. Some of the many highlights include a German V-1 "buzz bomb" and V 2 missile, Soviet and U.S. spacecraft and space suits, a Skylab Orbital Workshop, and a full-size test version of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia"
The Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia" carried astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins on their historic voyage to the Moon and back on July 16-24, 1969. This mission culminated in the first human steps on another world.
Apollo Lunar Module
This is an actual lunar module, one of 12 built for Project Apollo. It was meant to be used in low Earth orbit to test the techniques of separation, rendezvous, and docking with the command and service module. The second of two such test vehicles, its mission was cancelled because of the complete success of the first flight.
The lunar module had two stages. The descent (lower) stage was equipped with a rocket motor to slow the rate of descent to the lunar surface. It contained exploration equipment and remained on the Moon when the astronauts left. The ascent (upper) stage contained the crew compartment and a rocket motor to return the astronauts to the orbiting command module. After the crew entered the command module for the trip back to Earth, the lunar module was released and eventually crashed into the Moon. Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
V-1 Cruise Missile (the Green one flying)
The German V-1, introduced in combat in June 1944, was the world's first operational cruise missile. Thousands of pulse-jet powered V-1s, also known as "buzz bombs," were launched against Europe. V-1s were slow and inaccurate; they could be intercepted and shot down.Transferred from the U.S. Air Force
The rest of the rockets and missles are the Viking Missile, the Jupiter-C Rocket, the Vanguard Rocket, the Aerobee150 Rocket and the Scout-D rocket. I think there is also a Minuteman III Missle and a Tamahawk Cruise Missile in the picture, but I don't know which is which. Suffice it to say there is a lot of "blow-up" potential if these were actual working models!!!! They are all full size units which had their payloads and working parts removed prior to installation in the museum. VERY impressive!
Surveyor
The mission of the Surveyor project was to develop basic techniques for soft-landing on the Moon, to survey potential Apollo landing sites, and to obtain photographs and other scientific information. Of the seven Surveyors launched from 1966 through 1968, five landed successfully. They transmitted to Earth 87,632 television pictures of the lunar surface, sampled the lunar soil (using the little scoop on the extended arm), and performed chemical analyses of the soil and other scientific experiments.
This Surveyor spacecraft was used for ground tests. Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
In July 1975 two manned spacecraft were launched into Earth orbit--one from Kazakstan, the other from Florida. Their rendezvous in orbit fulfilled a 1972 agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States to participate in a joint venture in space.
The museum has an excellent website with more great pictures than those I have shown here. I used their site for the information on the items that I have shown here. Who could remember all that!!??!!??
http://www.nasm.si.edu/visit/floorplans/nasmmap.cfmIt was a HUGE place. All of the things you see are life size so it HAS to be huge. We were there on a special day where they had lots of things set up for kids to do, so it was really crowded, but we had a great time. Tired by the end of the day, but I think we managed to see everything in the museum. As usual, I have tons more pictures, but no room here!
Another view of "The Castle", the original Smithsonian Museum. The Smithsonian has grown to include 19 museums and 9 research centers. Each one is amazing in itself and a wonderful thing for the American people to own.
The Mall (another of the Smithsonians across the mall)
Something was being set up for the weekend.... obviously having something to do with the military. I thought Stu would like this picture of the helicopter!
The National Museum of the American Indian. When we saw this building, I told Clive that it had to have been designed by Douglas Cardinal, and when I looked it up on the internet....by jove, it was!!! His designs are so recognizable with the way he makes the buildings flow. His designs are intended to be in perfect harmony with nature. Always beautiful. We didn't actually go inside the building. So many museums and so little time.
Our first real look at the Capitol Building. Just as beautiful as we thought it would be.
Cute ducks. Bobbing in the water for something good!
There were lots of people around on this lovely Saturday afternoon, including a few bridal couples and their entourages, getting their photos taken.
Not bridal couples, but still cute!!!!
Closeup of the front of the statue. One thing about Washington, DC..... there are statues of anything and everything, everywhere you look.
After we walked around the Capitol Building, we came upon the National Botanical Garden.
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is a botanic garden run by the Congress of the United States. It is located in Washington, D.C., on the U.S. Capitol Grounds campus near Garfield Circle. The building itself, which includes a large Lord & Burnham greenhouse, is divided into separate rooms, each one simulating a different habitat
Lots of weird and beautiful flowers and plants!
This one is called a "shrimp" plant. I wonder why????
We called it a day after the Botanical Gardens and walked back to the subway. We had made it safely down in the morning, so we were positive that we would have no problems getting back. One should never assume anything!!!! Well, we didn't have any problems other than that the bus was over an HOUR late coming to the transfer station at the end of the line!!!! When you are out hoofing around and touring on foot all day long, that is NOT a nice way to end the day!!! However, we really did enjoy ourselves, and it was only a minor problem. 
Cute ducks. Bobbing in the water for something good!
There were lots of people around on this lovely Saturday afternoon, including a few bridal couples and their entourages, getting their photos taken.
Not bridal couples, but still cute!!!!
Closeup of the front of the statue. One thing about Washington, DC..... there are statues of anything and everything, everywhere you look.
After we walked around the Capitol Building, we came upon the National Botanical Garden.
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is a botanic garden run by the Congress of the United States. It is located in Washington, D.C., on the U.S. Capitol Grounds campus near Garfield Circle. The building itself, which includes a large Lord & Burnham greenhouse, is divided into separate rooms, each one simulating a different habitat
Lots of weird and beautiful flowers and plants!
This one is called a "shrimp" plant. I wonder why????
We called it a day after the Botanical Gardens and walked back to the subway. We had made it safely down in the morning, so we were positive that we would have no problems getting back. One should never assume anything!!!! Well, we didn't have any problems other than that the bus was over an HOUR late coming to the transfer station at the end of the line!!!! When you are out hoofing around and touring on foot all day long, that is NOT a nice way to end the day!!! However, we really did enjoy ourselves, and it was only a minor problem. 
