Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was at the top of my list of museums to visit in Washington, D.C. It has twenty-three galleries exhibiting hundreds of aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, rockets, and other flight-related artifacts – boy’s paradise! It was so exciting to see in person 1903 Wright Flyer, SpaceShipOne, Apollo 11 command module, Soviet SS-20 and American Pershing II missiles, a linked-up Soyuz and Apollo space modules (a milestone of space technology and peace), Yuri Gagarin’s space suite (he wore it during training for his 1961 flight, when he became the First man in Space), and my second favorite WWII aircraft (after Russian IL-2) German Messerschmitt Bf-109 (Gustav).
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The shade on Soviet SS-20 and American Pershing II missiles
Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6/R3 (Me 109, Gustav). Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Yuri Gagarin’s Space Suit
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Soyuz – Apollo. The first joint US-Soviet space flight
Medium range ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads
