Thursday, August 26, 2004
Museum Review:
The New Air and Space Museum is for the Birds
The National Air and Space Museum is the most popular museum in Washington's broad array of museums lining the Mall.
The Air and Space is dedicated to accomplishments in aviation and space exploration and has artifacts ranging from the Wright Brothers flier to a mock up of the Hubble Space Telescope. The main museum is located on the mall a stone's throw away from the Capitol building. It's loaded with interesting displays and interactive exhibits. A visitor can walk though sections of Skylab, or see a cutaway view of a jet engine. It's interactive and fun for those of us who like this sort of thing.
That's why I was excited about taking my folks to the newer and much larger Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport this weekend. Located about 30 miles outside of DC, the new annex will allow the Smithsonian to display artifacts too large for display in its original building. These include the SR-71 Black Bird, the Space Shuttle Enterprise and a Concorde. But sadly, unlike the original Air and Space Museum, the new annex manages to make some of the most impressive machines every made, dull and uniteresting.
The new museum is basically a very large hanger with artifacts on display. That's it. No peak inside any of these impressive craft and other than about a paragraph of information, no real chance to learn about the space shuttle, the SR-71 Black Bird or the Concord. It's like going to a large garage and looking at the planes, impressive, but not really educational. Save your twelve bucks and visit the original Air and Space museum, this one still needs some work.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/
The National Air and Space Museum is the most popular museum in Washington's broad array of museums lining the Mall.
The Air and Space is dedicated to accomplishments in aviation and space exploration and has artifacts ranging from the Wright Brothers flier to a mock up of the Hubble Space Telescope. The main museum is located on the mall a stone's throw away from the Capitol building. It's loaded with interesting displays and interactive exhibits. A visitor can walk though sections of Skylab, or see a cutaway view of a jet engine. It's interactive and fun for those of us who like this sort of thing.
That's why I was excited about taking my folks to the newer and much larger Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport this weekend. Located about 30 miles outside of DC, the new annex will allow the Smithsonian to display artifacts too large for display in its original building. These include the SR-71 Black Bird, the Space Shuttle Enterprise and a Concorde. But sadly, unlike the original Air and Space Museum, the new annex manages to make some of the most impressive machines every made, dull and uniteresting.
The new museum is basically a very large hanger with artifacts on display. That's it. No peak inside any of these impressive craft and other than about a paragraph of information, no real chance to learn about the space shuttle, the SR-71 Black Bird or the Concord. It's like going to a large garage and looking at the planes, impressive, but not really educational. Save your twelve bucks and visit the original Air and Space museum, this one still needs some work.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/
