Sitting near the eastern end of the Mall, and close to the Capitol Building, the National Air and Space Museum is an imposing building. Built from four mammoth hangar-style 'cubes', it has the largest floor-space of any aeronautical exhibition. But while heavy and gigantic from the outside, inside, its vast spaces open out to showcase the whole history of America's quest for flight. From the Wright brothers to Neil Armstrong, from the flimsy bi-planes to the thrust of the space-race, the NASM lives up to its motto of 'to the stars'.
And star attractions abound here. It has the Wright Flyer, the first plane ever to lift humans off of terra firma the Spirit of St. Louis, the first plane to fly across the Atlantic non-stop in 1927 and the Apollo 11 capsule, the space-craft that first took astronauts to the moon. But it's not just the planes, rockets and spacecraft that are the stars here. The National Air and Space Museum wants to educate and enthuse too, and it has some of the best interactive exhibits in the world. The magical physics behind plane and space flight are explained by getting hands-on with models and demos. And its IMAX theatre screenings cover a host of important aviation and space stories.
You can even get up-close to the simmering flares and storms of our nearest star (the sun) by taking a peek through the museum's 46-centimetre space telescope. Or if the weather's being unkind, there's always the Albert Einstein Planetarium, which brings the drama of the cosmos into view (clouds or not). If you don't mind paying extra – and queuing – you can try your hand at exploring the depths of space, by flying a space-craft straight out of science-fiction. Or becoming a pilot at the controls of a modern combat jet – both in state-of-the-art simulators of course.
There’s no charge to enter the National Air and Space Museum and it’s just around the corner from the rest of Washington’s shimmering attractions lining the National Mall.
