Click here for a short history
of the National Air and Space Museum

Negative number: 742 B The "Spirit of St. Louis" suspended from the ceiling of the Arts and Industries Building. Charles A. Lindbergh donated the airplane to the Smithsonian on 30 April 1928, and it went on public display in the Arts and Industries Building on 13 May 1928.

Negative number: 73-10771-21A Construction on the National Air and Space Museum, 16 October 1973. The ground breaking ceremony for the new museum building was on 20 November 1972. Photo by Harry Neufeld.

Negative number: 76-6195-7 Richard Marshall (left) and Glenn Sweeting prepare a mannequin to fit into a uniform for exhibit at the National Air and Space Musem shortly before its opening in 1976. Since the uniforms on display in the museum are historically accurate, they cannot be altered to fit the mannequins, so the mannequins are altered to fit the uniforms. Photo by Richard Farrar.

Negative number: 76-7010-16a Installation of a V2 Rocket in the Space Hall in the new National Air and Space Museum before it opened on July 1, 1976. Photo by Richard Farrar.

Negative number: 85-9004-5 The Wright Flyer being worked on in the National Air and Space Museum during its 1985 restoration.

Negative number: 76-13966-12A Opening day ceremony at the National Air and Space Museum, with (l. to r.) President Gerald Ford, NASM director and astronaut Michael Collins, and Secretary S. Dillon Ripley with satellite ribbon-cutting apparatus on 1 July 1976.

Negative number: 76-19265-14 The "Milestones of Flight Gallery" of the newly opened National Air and Space Museum, December 1976. Photo by Richard Farrar.

Negative number: 74-11545-16 Marine Helicopter moves a Skyraider fighter-bomber from Dahlgren, Virginia, Navy Base to the National Air and Space Museum's storage facility in Silver Hill, Maryland, 1974.

Negative number: 76-16672 National Air and Space Museum airplanes at the Silver Hill, Maryland storage facility. The Boeing B-17D "Swoose" is seen at left. Photo by Richard Farrar.

Negative number: 87-3138-30a John D. Barrat, from the Office of Public Affairs, touching the Moon Rock on exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum, 1987.

Negative number: 85-17421-15 NASA's Space Shuttle Enterprise flew into Washington Dulles International Airport on 16 November 1985 atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft. Using cranes, the Enterprise was removed from the top of the 747 and lowered to the tarmac at Dulles on 17 November. On 6 December 1985 NASA transferred title of the Enterprise to the National Air and Space Museum at a black tie gala at the airport. Photo by Dale Hrabak.

Negative number: 87-16212-12 Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world without landing or refueling, being suspended in the south gallery of the National Air and Space Museum. The craft, which has a wingspan of 108 feet, was separated into five sections and transported from the Paul E.Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland, through the streets of Washington in the dead of night. Photo by Mark Avino.

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