Museum of American Exceptionalism
← All wings

Sky & Space

Through the sound barrier, around the Moon and onto it, and home again in a winged spaceship.

1927–1981 · 9 exhibits
  1. A crowd surrounds the Spirit of St. Louis at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, before Lindbergh's takeoff for Paris, 20 May 1927.
    1927Open nowThe Spirit of St. LouisA 25-year-old airmail pilot flew alone from New York to Paris without stopping and became the most famous man alive.33½hours alone
  2. Bell X-1 #46-062 in flight, c. 1947
    1947Open nowMach 1Chuck Yeager, two broken ribs and the Bell X-1. The sound barrier broke over the Mojave.1.06Mach
  3. John Glenn climbs into Friendship 7 during the final countdown, 20 February 1962 (KSC-JohnGlenn-0006)
    1962Open nowGodspeed, John GlennJohn Glenn circled the Earth three times in under five hours and put America in the space race for good.3orbits
  4. SR-71 Blackbird over the Sierra Nevada
    1964Open nowSR-71 BlackbirdDesigned with slide rules. Still the fastest crewed air-breathing jet ever flown.3.3Mach
  5. Earthrise: the Earth rises over the lunar horizon on Apollo 8’s fourth orbit, Christmas Eve 1968, in Bill Anders’s first color frame (AS08-14-2383)
    1968Open nowEarthriseThree Americans left Earth’s orbit for the first time, circled the Moon on Christmas Eve, and read Genesis to the world.1sthumans to orbit the Moon
  6. Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, Apollo 11, July 20, 1969 (AS11-40-5903)
    1969Open nowApollo 11Eight years after a president said we would, two Americans walked on the Moon.240Kmiles
  7. Odyssey splashes down in the South Pacific as its three main parachutes collapse, 17 April 1970 (S70-35644)
    1970Open nowHouston, We’ve Had a ProblemAn oxygen tank blew more than 200,000 miles from Earth. Mission Control and the crew worked out the way home.87hours to get home
  8. Columbia rises from Pad 39A just after 7 a.m. on 12 April 1981, its external tank still painted white, the first time a crew rode a spacecraft on its maiden launch (KSC-81PC-0382)
    1981Open nowColumbiaTwo astronauts flew a brand-new winged spacecraft into orbit on its first flight and landed it like an airplane.1streusable spaceship
  9. Kathryn Thornton lifts COSTAR, the corrective optics that gave Hubble’s instruments their sharp focus, while Tom Akers works below in Endeavour’s payload bay on the fourth spacewalk, 8 December 1993 (STS061-47-014).
    1993Open nowFixing HubbleThe telescope went up flawed. Astronauts caught it in orbit, gave it new eyes, and it showed us the universe.5spacewalks