Category Book of Flight

SKYLAB, the first U. S. space station.

was built after the Apollo missions.

It was launched May 14, 1973. I he size of a small house, Skylab measured 118 feet long. Built from part of an empty Saturn V rocket, it had living and work space for three astronauts, solar panels lor power, and telescopes to study the Sun and Earth.

A “laboratory in the sky,” Skylab s main goal was to learn if astronauts could survive in space for long periods. Three crews lived in Skylab from 1973 to 1974 for up to 84 days. Orbiting the Earth every 93 minutes at 17,000 miles an hour, they ate, slept, and worked in zero gravity, or weightlessness. Because muscles weaken without gravity, they exercised daily. Mission Control constantly monitored their bodies. The tests showed the crews remained healthy. In Skylab, thev performed hundreds of experiments and took thousands of photographs ol the Sun and Earth. Skylab was a big success. Later abandoned, it fell from orbit in 1979.

Dinner is Served

Skylab’s crew ate a variety of fresh and frozen foods, heated on this warming tray. Forks, spoons, and knives had magnets to keep them from floating away. Food had plastic covers. The crew ate by a window to enjoy the view.

* 4 Space Spider

Can spiders spin webs in the weightless conditions of space? To find out, Skylab took along spider passengers. This spider named Arabella (left) was confused and could not spin well for two days. Then, she adjusted and spun normal webs.

Pulling Power

In the weightlessness of space, human body fluids drift up to the upper body. Astronaut Owen Garriott tests a machine called the Lower Body Negative Pressure experiment. lt corrects the problem by pulling fluids back down to the legs.

Life on Skylab

Owen Garriott gives fellow astronaut Alan Bean a haircut. A suction hose collects the hair so it won’t float away. At Christmas, Skylab astronauts decorated their space home with a Christmas tree made of food cans.

* Inside Story

A cutaway of Skylab’s orbital workshop reveals its two sections. At top was a laboratory where the crew worked on scientific experiments. Below, the living quarters had a shower, toilet, galley, and eating and sleeping areas.

N the 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union began a new period of cooperation. They even agreed to launch a joint space mission, called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In July 19/5, two manned spacecraft took off. One was an American Apollo capsule launched from Florida. The other, a Soyuz capsule, was launched Irom Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union. On July 17, the two capsules met in Earth orbit and successfully docked. They used a specially designed docking module. It lit to the Apollo on one end and to the Soyuz on the other end.

After docking, the two crews met, shook hands, and visited each other’s ships. 1 hey talked and ate together, and also did experiments in astronomy together. The spacecralt remained docked together for two days. Both returned safely to Earth. With this historic meeting, the two countries began to help each other in using space for peaceful purposes.

У "Hello!"

Reaching through the hatch, American astronaut Ihomas Stafford (right) shakes hands with Soviet cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov. Tlie mission symbolized goodwill between the two nations.

A A Toast

Astronauts Thomas Stafford and Donald Slayton celebrate the success of their mission by drinking a toast. The American and Soviet crews exchanged greetings and visited each other’s craft four times before returning home.

< Apollo-Soyuz On Display

Visitors to the National Air and Space Museum can see a replica of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft docked with the special docking adapter built for the mission. The display gives a good opportunity to compare U. S. and Soviet spacecraft.

NE of the most famous early distance flights was that of the Douglas World Cruisers in 1924. 1 hey were the first planes ever to go around the globe. Built for the L’.S. Army Air Serv ice, the \ orld Cruisers were open-cockpit biplanes. They had landing gear that could be changed from wheels to floats so the craft could land on water or ground. Named tor tour cities, the planes were the Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, and Seattle.

On April 6, 1924, the four planes with two – man crews took oft from Seattle, \ ashing Von. They were to fly west over Alaska, around Asia, across the North Atlantic, and back across the United States. On the trip, the Seattle crashed in Alaska and the Boston went down in the North Atlantic. Only the Chicago and the New Orleans completed the llight, traveling through 29 coun­tries. After six months they returned to Seattle, ending the incredible 26,«345-mile journey.

< Good Luck (harm

A toy monkey named "Maqqie" (left) rode in the Douglas World Cruiser Chicago on its long journey. The plane’s open cockpit (below) had few instruments, but a big steering wheel to control ailerons and elevators. Leather trim was to protect the pilot in a possible crash.

* The (и к Або

One of the two surviving World Cruisers, the Chicago is in the National Air and Space Museum. The two-seat biplane carried a crew of two, a pilot and a mechanic. It had no radio, radar, or weather instruments to help make the long round-the-world flight.

▼ Resting at Anchor

The diorama below, in the Museum collection, depicts the World Cruisers refueling in Seward, Alaska. At right, the planes sit on their pontoon floats, anchored off Sitka, Alaska. Soon after, the Seattle crashed into a mountain in fog.

HEN astronauts venture outside their spacecraft to explore or work In space, they must be well protected. Otherwise they would quickly die in the hostile environment of space. A space suit is the astronaut’s protection and life support system. Going outside the spacecraft is called an EVA (extravehicular activity). Wearing a space suit, the astronaut can survive up to 8 hours.

Early space suits were bulky, with up to 15 layers of material, and uncomfortable to move in. Today’s suits have layers ol light, airtight material such as nylon and Tefljgn. ‘1 hey protect against extreme heat or cold and against the destructive impact of tiny particles called micrometeoroids.

The space suit provides oxygen, a waste removal system, and radio communication. Astronauts can also move freely by attaching a chair like jet pack called the MMU (Manned Maneuvering Unit). It is propelled by small gas – jet motors called thrusters. I he astronaut controls them with buttons, much like video game controls.

Early Pilot’s Suit

Flying at altitudes over 10,000 feet, early pilots had to breathe oxygen through face masks to survive in the thin air aloft. Above, pilot Wiley Post developed the first practical pressure suit for making his record high-altitude flight in 1935.

* Hah or Rocket?

Designed in 1960,this early space suit called the "tripod teepee"was not a success. A rigid metal cylinder with holes for the arms and legs, it was bulky and inflexible. The wearer here could hardly move his arms to use tools and could not bend over or sit normally.

Mercury Space Suit

This space suit was worn by Gordon Cooper, one of America’s first astronauts. The suit had an aluminized nylon covering and 13 zippers for a snug rit. The gloves had tiny finger lights to help the astronaut see controls and charts.

< EMU

Ihe space su t the shuttle astronauts wear to work in space is the EMU, or Extravehicular Mobi Fry Unit. It provides air, protection from severe heat or cold, arid communication. Adding a jet-powered Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), the astronaut can move around freely outside.

1. TV camera

2. Sun visor

3. Fights to see in dark

4. Microphone for communication

5. Backpack with oxygen

6. Tool tether to keep tools from floating away

7. Procedure check list

8. Harness to hold jetpack in place

9. MMU hand control to fire thrusters for movement

10. Safety tethers

11. Tough outer fabric to protect against tears

12. Aluminum mylar layer for warmth

13. Underwear with water tubing to cool body

14. Coated nylon protective layer

15. Gas-powered thrusters on MMU jetpack

Suiting Up

Astronaut M. S. Weber adjusts a glove in her pressure suit before getting on the space shuttle. The astronauts wear this suit at critical times such as launch and reentry. In some emergency situations, the astronauts can escape by parachuting out of the hatch.

ROL’GHOUT the 1920s and 1930s. pilots competed to set new distance records as well as endurance records—staving the longest time in the air. In 1923, a Fokker T-2 Army transport plane made the first nonstop flight across the United States. Army Air Service Lieutenants Oakley G. Kelly and John A. Macreadv piloted the T-2 Irom New York to San Diego. The trip took 26 hours and 50 minutes. Along the way, people listened eagerly tor the plane and watched lor it in the sky. When the T-2 landed, a huge crowd cheered the landmark flight.

In 1929, the crew ot a tn-motor Fokker, the Question Alark, set an endurance record of 150 hours, 40 minutes, and 15 seconds in the air.

They flew over Caliiornia, covering 1 1,000 miles. The 1 light required midair retueling from another plane, using a 40-foot hose.

An astonishing record lor sustained flight was set in 1936 by the Curtiss Robin Ole Alios.

The pilots, brothers Fred and Algene Key, took oil trom Meridian, .Mississippi on June 4 and landed July 1 alter 653 hours—27 days in the air! The plane received lood and fuel in over 400 contacts with another plane. Such flights increased the public’s confidence in aircraft.

Risky Business

Pilot Fred Key services the eng ne of the Curtiss Robin Ole Miss by climbing on a special catwa k. During the record flight of 27 days, the two pilots took turns sleeping on top ofa fuel tank.

► Filling up in Flight

During its 1929 flight, the Question Mark gets fuel from another plane by a nose. This was dangerous, since a drop of gas eakirg on a hot engine could ign :e and Dlow up the plane. Left, a Boeing PW-9D "blackboard piane"carried messages to the Question Mark crew.

► FOKKER Т-2 The Fokker T-2, now in the Museum, made the first nonstop flight across the United States in 1923. At right, pilots John Macready, left, and Oakley Kelly stand with the 737 gallons of gas and 40 gallons of oil used for the flight.

1924 DOUGLAS WORLD CRUISERS ^FIRST AROUND-TJtf^VvbMOJlIGHTV’–.

■"•4-

1937 AMELIA EARHART’S AROUND – THE-WORLD FLIGHT (SECOND ATTEMPT)

,/

Record Distance Flights

Routes shown here trace four of the most famous flights of the 1920s and 1930s.

> Flight (rew

The crew of the Question Mark includes (left to right) Major Carl Spaatz, in command, chief pilot Ira Eaker, Harry Halverson, Lieutenant Elwood Quesada, and Sergeant Roy Hooe, chief mechanic.

"Here all around me, и the Atlantic — its expanse, ltd depth, ltd power, і to wild and open water… If my plane ran о lay aloft, if my engine can keep on running, then so can I. ’

—Charles Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. lews

ON May 20, 1927, 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh took

oil from New York on one ol history’s most famcus flights. An unknown mail pilot, he hoped to win a $25,000 prize by being first to fly nonstop from New York to Pans. He would fly 3,610 miles—alone. Six other pilots had died trying.

Heavily laden with fuel. Lindbergh’s monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louio, barely got off the ground. Lindbergh had not slept in 24 hours. But because the weather was clearing, he set oft. To avoid extra weight, he carried no radio, relying only on his instruments and navigational skills. At times he flew in total darkness, except tor the eerie glow of his instruments. On the difficult crossing, Lindbergh battled terrifying storms, fog, cold, and worst of all, sleep. He wrote, “I’ve lost command of my eyelids. They shut…stick tight as though with glue.. I’ve got to find a Way to stay alert. I here’s no alternative but death and failure.’ His flight lasted 35/2 hours. Landing in Paris, he became an instant hero.

“The Lone Cagle"

Charles Lindbergh became the most famous aviator of his day. His courage, danng, and sheer endurance at achieving the solo flight won public admiration and acclaim. Lindbergh did much to inspire people’s faith in the airplane.

The Spirit of Sr. Louis

Charles Lindbergh’s famous airplane now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum. The sturdy monoplane was built with extra tanks to hold 450 ga ons of fuel for the Atlantic flight. It carr. ed Lindbergh into history May 20 21,1927.

Nose Art

Flags of many nations decorate the Spirit near the Wright J-5 Whirlwind engine circling the plane’s nose. The flags represent countries Lindbergh visited on a goodwill tour of Latin America and the Caribbean after his Atlantic flight.

▼ Fame and Fortune

The Spirit of St. Louis takes off on a national tour (bottom) following Lindbergh’s Atlantic flight. A check for $25,000 (below) was presented to Lindbergh as his prize for making the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris.

THE space shuttle is the world s only reusable

spacecraft. It was developed after the huge expense of the Apollo missions. Those craft were used only once. 1 he space shuttle can be reused over and over. It consists ol three parts: 1) the orbiter, an airplane-like both’ with three engines, 2) an external tank to fuel the engines at liftoff, and 3) two solid rocket boosters for extra energy at liftoff. The shuttle is launched like a rocket, orbits the Earth like a spacecraft, and lands like a glider.

The first shuttle to fly in space was Columbia. It lifted olf on April 12, 1981, with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen. “T-iMinus 5…4…3…2… 1 Ignition!” Columbia’s engines roared to life and it blasted into the sky. twelve minutes later it was circling the Earth 200 miles high. The flight lasted 54 hours and made 36 Earth orbits. All systems performed well. The astronauts were thrilled wit h the two-day ride. Alter returning safely to Earth, John Young said, "We are really not that fax’…from going to the stars."

A Fast Exit

In case of emergency before launch, the crew exit the shuttle in a slidewire basket. Shuttle Endeavour mission specialists practice the exit. As Michael Foale pulls a lever to release the basket, Claude Nicollier and John Grunsfeld watch.

N amazingly complex machine, the space shuttle has over 600,000 different parts. Among its most important features is its tile heat shield.

I When the shuttle reenters Earth’s

ft atmosphere, it zooms at 25 times the speed of Ш sound. Air molecules cannot move out of the wav of the craft fast enough. They pile up and squeeze together. This generates heat of over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Thousands ot silica tiles on the shuttle absorb and throw oil scorching heat.

The shuttle’s launch system has three components. The orbiter’s engines ignite only at liftoff. A huge orange fuel tank feeds them 800 tons of liquid fuel. Two white solid rocket boosters burn solid fuel at lift-off, then fall oil. They parachute into the ocean to be recovered and reused. The orange tank tails olt and burns up in the atmosphere. The shuttle’s engines and boosters deliver an incredible 7 million pounds of thrust to launch the shuttle into orbit.

Heat Damage

Scorch marks and holes on the shuttle Endeavour’s tile covering show the effects of reentering the atmosphere. The heat shield of ceramic silica tiles protects the shuttle by insulating it from the heat. The shield must be repaired after each flight.

► Tile Armor

A closeup (right) shows some of the

34,0 ceramic tiles that make up the ther­mal shield on the shuttle’s top and belly. The tiles are one-half to З А inches thick. Above, a technician replaces damaged tiles on the Columbia, gluing each one by hand.

Fun Fact: Power Up

The shuttle orbiter’s three engines consume 800 tons of fuel in about 10 minutes. They alone generate enough power to light up New York state!

I

Ready for Launch The shuttle Atlantis stands assembled for launch outside the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at Kennedy Space Center. The white shuttle orbiter uses its own engines plus two booster rockets and a disposable fuel tank to propel it into space.

ELIA Earhart was the most lam oils woman pilot of her time. Adventurous and fearless, she pushed herself to the limits, setting many new records. On May 20, 1932, five years to the day after Lindbergh’s Atlantic crossing, Amelia took oil to fly solo across the Atlantic. In her bright rec Lockheed Vega, she left Newfoundland and landed nearly 15 hours later in Londonderry, Ireland. During the trip, her altimeter, which measured her altitude, failed. She encountered violent storms, icing on her wings, and a sudden downward drop ot 3,000 leet! Yet she managed to pull the plane up, and never lost hei nerve. She became the first woman to make the solo crossing.

In 1957, Amelia took off with a navigator for her most ambitious goal—a round-the-world flight in her new Lockheed Llectra. Flying back home over the Pacific, the Electra mysteriously disappeared. No trace ol Amelia, her navigator, or her plane was ever found.

+ Flying Superstar

Thousands of admirers flock around Amelia after her landing in Oakland, California, m 1935 in another Vega. She had just made the first solo flight from Hawaii to the mainland arid was a worldwide celebrity.

When Amelia’s plane vanished over the Pacific in 1937, a huge search by ships and aircraft failed to find her. No one knows her fate. Yet many experts think she lost her way, ran out of fuel, and crashed into the ocean.

* Flight (heck

Before her round-the-world flight, Amelia takes a final look at the Electra with mechanics. After her flight, she planned to use the Electra as a "flying laboratory" for aviation research.

► Famous Airplane

Amelia’s red Vega is today in the National Air and Space Museum. One of the most advanced planes of its time, the Vega had a streamlined wood fuselage, molded plywood "skin," and internally braced wings.

Airmail Pilots Rugged airma’I pilots (top) pose for a January 1922 portrait. For warmth, they wore two pairs of socks, underwear, and gloves, as well as sweaters, fur-l’ned suits, and scarves. So bundled up, many had to be lifted into their cockpits. DouglasИ-2 The Douglas M-2 was an early a’rmail plane. It flew from Los Angeles to Salt .ake City from 1926 to 1930. Mannequins represent the pilot and mai1 workers in this Museum display. Occasionally, a passenger would squeeze in to ride with the mail.

Via Airmail Early advertisements and a shipping label from the Museum collection promote airmail service in the 1920s and 1930s.

Fun Facts: Getting There

Early mail pilots had to find their own way and plot their own routes. They had no navigational tools, but simply looked down to spot landmarks and follow rivers, roads, or railroad tracks.

► Ford Tri-Motor

Ihe Ford Tri Motor, made by Henry Ford in 1926, was a popular early airliner. Noisy but reliable, it seated 13 passengers. Its all-metal body and three engines made people feel safer. It was known as the "Tin Goose."

Boeing 21,7В

First built in 1934, the Boeing 247D was used by United Airlines Sleek and comfortable, it cruised at 189 miles an hour. Now in the Museum, this plane was flown in the 1934 London-to-Melbourne MacRobertson Air Race (see map above). It came in third.

◄ Racing Star

Roscoe Turner, the most famous and colorful racing pilot of the 1930s, shows off his pet lion, Gilmore. Gilmore often flew along with Turner. In 1934,Turner piloted the Boeing 247D airliner above in the MacRobertson Race.

Many early pilots flew with unusual pets. One pilot had a 109-pound black Idaho wolf named "Ace." Another had a squirrel that loved to fly. It rode in the pilot’s top coat pocket or dung to his scarf.

RLY passenger flights of the 1920s were rough. Planes had no heat or air conditioning. They were not pressurized and usually could not fly over storms. They pitched and bucked in turbulence, and passengers were very airsick.

In 1930, the first stewardesses, all nurses, were hired. Among the first rules they had to learn was: make sure passengers who want to use the restroom don’t walk out the exit door!

Commercial air transportation grew rapidly during the 1930s and early 1940s. 1 he Boeing 247D was the first modern airliner, with comfortable seats and air conditioning. Yet it could only seat 10 passengers. Many airlines asked builders to design a bigger plane.

The result was the Douglas DC-3, which began service in 1936. It could seat up to 32 passengers, hast, comlortable, and dependable, the DC-3 was the tirst passenger aircraft to make a profit without carrying mail. By 1939, ninety percent of airline passengers worldwide were flown in DC-3s.

¥ Flight Attendants

United Airlines stewardesses pose with a Boeing 247D. First serving as nurses, stewardesses later served meals and kept passengers safe and comfortable. These stewardess airline wings and identification badge are from the

Worldwide Travel

The Douglas DC-3 (above) became the world’s most successful airliner, flying cheaper, safer, and faster than competitors. Over 1,000 are still flying. By the 1930s, planes were taking people around the globe, as shown in these Museum advertisements.

In the Pilot’s Seat

A pilot and co-pilot sit at the controls of a DC-3.The cockpit had two sets of instruments and an autopilot. Pilots said the DC-3 handled so easily, it practically flew itself. The plane couid reach speeds up to 230 miles an hour.

THIS is the space shuttle cockpit, located on the flight deck. It is the main control area of the spacecraft. In this picture, the seats have been removed. Two spaces for seats face the orbiter’s front windows. The mission commander sits on the left and the pilot on the right. Either one can control the craft from his seat. Flying the shuttle requires a vast array ol instruments. Over 2,100 different controls line the cockpit. I he new shuttle cockpit has more computer screens, and so it is called the “glass cockpit.”

The flight deck and rest ol the crew cabin are pressurized so the crew do not need space suits once in orbit. They float around in weightlessness, often called "zero G,” inside the cabin, from the flight deck, the crew can control other parts ol the spacecraft. They can open and close the payload, or cargo, bay doors. They can move the shuttle’s big robot arm to grasp and retrieve objects such as communications satellites in space. The shuttle’s movements can be I controlled manually by the crew and also

by Mission Control in Houston.

In Command

Mission commander Dominic LGone sits at the controls of the shuttle Endeavour during a 1999 mission. The pilot’s seat is on his right. The shuttle can also be controlled by a sophisticated autopilot that can react thousands of times faster than a human.

MAGINE a time when people only dreamed ot flying, when the sight of a jet streaking across the sky would have been astounding, and the idea ol launching a rocket into space too fantastic to comprehend. You may be surprised to learn that time was not very long ago. It is possible that someone you know was born before airliners and jets even existed.

The stories you are about to read — and the amazing pictures you will see — capture the wonder and excitement of a history that is still unfolding. At the dawn of the 20th century, the first powered aircraft took to the skies. By the century’s end, the International Space Station was on its way to becoming a reality. In the first years of the new millennium, engineers are developing reusable space vehicles, designing airplanes that wi 11 fly at fi ve times the speed ol sound and exploring a human mission to Maes.

The pioneers of flight paved the way for a future idled with adventure and achievement, a fact demonstrated every day at the Smithsonian s National Air and Space Museum, hilled with history-making aircraft anti spacecraft, the Museum brings to life the work ol the inventors and scientists who created them, portrays the courageous av iators and astronauts who flew them and explains how our world is changing because of the progress in aviation and space exploration. The Smithsonian National Ліг anh Space Museum Book of Flight celebrates the Museum’s famous collection and reveals highlights ot its many exhibitions.

In the following pages, for example, you will be introduced to two brothers — \ ilbur and Orville Wright. As children they made and flew kites. \ hen they got older they designed and built bicycles. Soon they were able to put their mechaniCctl skills to use in achieving their dream: On December 17, 1905, on a windswept beach near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they flew the

first powered airplane into the history books.

Mill ions of people come to see the original Wright Flyer at the National Air and Space Museum every year.

People also come to the Museum to see other early airplanes like the Spirit of St. Louis. In it, a 25-year-old airmail pilot named Charles Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927, a 33’L hour flight that six other pilots died trying to achieve. Five years later, Amelia Farhart became the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. Her bright red Lockheed Vega sits in the Museum’s Pioneers of Flight gallery.

Aviation’s powerful influence on world history is shown in exhibits that describe military activities over the decades. In the Book ot Flight, you’ll learn all about famous battles and discover how the first bombers and fighter planes worked. You will meet heroes like America’s World War 1 flying ace, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, as well as other military legends such as Baron Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the "Red Baron.” (Do you know what lamous cartoon character is still waging war on the Red Baron? Look for the answer in one of the book s many Fun Facts.)

The courage of V odd V аг II fliers is shown in the inspiring story of the luskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots. This skilled and daring group fought against great odds to defend our country’ on two fronts — against the enemy in Europe and against racial prejudice in this country.

By the middle ot the 20th century, aircraft designers were focusing on speed. Suspended

* Touch the Moon

A young visitor at the National Air and Space Museum delights in touching the Moonrock, collected by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972.The Museum is one of only two places on Earth where visitors can touch lunar rock. The other is Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

▼ Hands-on Learning

In the Hail of Air Transportation, interpreter Katherine Tuow helps young visitors compare early passenger aviation with modern travel. She shows them a model DC-3 airliner and lets them try on early and recent pilot uniforms from a "Discovery Cart."

from the Museum’s ceiling is the Bell X-l, a bright orange, bullet-shaped plane equipped with a rocket engine. In 1947 an American test pilot named Chuck Yeager accelerated it to 700 miles per hour to break the sound barrier for the first time.

It was not long after this milestone that the race to conquer space was on. In 1962 America’s effort to orbit the earth was successful. Astronaut John Glenn ’s Mercury Friaubbip 7 capsule is now on display in the Milestones of Flight gallery. Other Museum exhibits trace the expansion and progress of space exploration, as well as the science and technology behind the breakthroughs. H undreds of displays and artifacts — rockets, capsules, tools, vehicles, equipment, space suits, even space food — tell this continuing story.

One of the National Air and Space. Museum’s most popular displays features a rock from the Moon. This four-billion-year-old sample was taken from the lunar surface in 1972 by astronauts participating in the Apollo 1/ mission.

Since it opened on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. in 1976, the Air and Space Museum has welcomed more than 212 million people. The world’s most visited museum.

it is the length of three city blocks and has exhibitions on two floors. Amazingly, however, there is room tor only 10 percent of the national collection of aviation and space artifacts.

For this reason, the museum is constructing a new building that will be large enough to display an additional 80 percent of the collection.

Jn December 2003, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s historic flight will be celebrated by opening the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. This amazing facility will be ten stories high and three football fields long. It is named for the man who provided a major contribution to help construct it.

lsitors to the Udvar-Hazy Center will be able to walk among artifacts on the floor and also along elevated “skyways” to view hanging aircraft. Many engines, rockets, satellites, helicopters, airliners and experimental flying machines will be displayed for the first time in a museum setting. Over 200 aircraft and 135 spacecraft will be on view, including the prototype space shuttle Enterprise and the SR-71 Blackbird, the world’s fastest airplane.

There will be an observation tower overlooking Dulles air traffic, plus restaurants

and shops. Visitors will also be able to enjoy exciting movies in a large-screen theater, and ride thrilling simulators.

As the Director of the National Air and Space Museum, I feel I am one of the luckiest men on the planet. I not only have the chance to be in the world’s most fascinating museum every day, I also know what it is like to be in the cockpit, having served for many years as a Marine Corps pilot. In addition, I was privileged to continue my flying and play a role in the space program by working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Although my career has included many roles, the one I care most about is being a father and grandfather. It is for this reason that I want to preserve and share the magnificent history and technology of aviation and space explorat ion with you and others.

Over the past century, we have come a long way. But lor future generations, the best is yet to come.

General John R. “Jack ” Dailey, USAIC (Ret)

Director

R ational Air ojw Space Museшп

!NCE ancient times, people have dreamed of living: like birds. In Greek myths, heroes made wings to fly. In Persian legends, people zoomed through the sky on magic carpets. Г he ancient Chinese invented kites, and some reportedly carried humans aloft. During the Middle Ages, many people tried to fly. Some strapped on wings of cloth or feathers and jumped off towers or cliffs. Yet nothing worked, and many died.

Then in 1783, two French brothers,

Joseph and Etienne. Montgolfier, invented the hot-air balloon. \ orking in their family’s paper factory’, they noticed that paper put on a fire was lifted up the chimney. 1 hey filled a large cloth-and-paper bag with hot air from a fire. I’he hot air made the balloon lighter than air, and it rose over Pans, carrying two noblemen. This was the first recorded human flight.

In 1804, Englishman George Cayley invented the first heavier-than-air craft, a model glider. Later piloted by German Otto I. ilienthal, gliders we re the ancestors of the modern airplane.

4 Sir George Cayley (1773-1857)

Often caked the "Father of Aeronautics," Sir George Cayley first establ shed the scientific principles of heavier-than-a’r fl:ght. Studying b rds, he understood that wings create a force called’lift." He also understood propulsion and control in fi ght and he predicted powered aircraft in the future. He first built a five-toot – long model glider based on a kite. Later, in 1853, he built a large glider that carr e: his unw lling coachman a short way. Afterward, tne frightened coachman resigned, saying "I was hired to drive, not fly!"

Flight Control

Lilienthal steers his glider by swinging his legs and shifting his weight. This method of control was limited and dangerous.

Gliding Pioneer

Jumping into the wind, Otto Lilienthal sails through the air in a hang glider as spectators watch. Lilienthal tested many of his glider designs by leaping off a custom-made, cone-shaped hill near Berlin. He flew over 2,500 flights, up to 64 feet high and nearly a quarter mile long.

Otto Lilienthal (18^9-1896)

Otto Lilienthal was a German engineer who studied bird flight and was the first person to actively pilot, or control, a glider. Between 1891 and 1896, he built and flew 18 glider designs of lightweight cotton, willow, and bamboo. Unpowered, they glided on winds and updrafts, the same way birds soar. Lilienthal scientifically recorded his research, which greatly helped later inventors. A fearless flier, he finally crashed when he lost control in a gust of wind. He died the next day. His last words were:"Sacrifices must be made."

High-Flying Act

Ballooning and gliding became exciting spectator sports in the 1800s. This 19th-century German poster ^

features a young woman л

balloonist and aerial acrobat НІ

named K. Paulus. Шш

◄ Go Fly a Kite

Some 19th-century thinkers returned to the idea of kites as ways to carry people aloft. Here, Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, explains his idea fora large kite made up of many triangular surfaces.

BALLOONING was popular in the 1800s. And with gliders, people could actually soar on wings like birds. Yet balloons and gliders were hard to con­trol. They drifted with the wind. Inventors now began trying to achieve powered, controlled flight.

In 1852, Frenchman Henri Giffard attached a steam engine to a cigar-shaped, hydrogen-filled bal­loon. He called it a “dirigible," meaning steerable. Yet the airship’s steam engine was heavy and the craft proved slovr and still hard to maneuver. Others tried adding power to heavier-than-air flying machines. Many were bizarre contraptions. A few hovered or hopped briefly off the ground, but never flew.

In 1896, an American scientist, Dr. Samuel Langley, launched an unpiloted steam-powered model aircraft. It flew nearly a mile. Yet when Langley tried launching a large piloted version, it crashed on takeoff — twice. This seemed to prove what most people believed: flowered, pilot-con­trolled flight was simply impossible.

► Samuel PierpontLangley (1831,-1906)

Professor Samuel P. Langley, the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C., was a respected astronomer. The public was stunned when his unmanned steam-powered model Aerodrome No. 5 flew over the Potomac River in 1896.

In 1903, Langley attempted to launch a full-size "Great Aerodrome" with a pilot aboard. The craft was equipped with a large new gasoline engine, but no real means of control. On two attempts at takeoff, the big Aerodrome s flimsy wings collapsed. The craft sank in the water "like a handful of mortar," a newspaper reported, dumping the unlucky pilot in the river.

Fun Fact: Leviathan

It

Wings on Wheels

Inspired by the Ferris Wheel, this early French flying machine was designed by the Marquis d’Equevihey. Its multiple wings were intended to increase lift. Instead, the machine proved too heavy to lift off

A, Early Triplane

A different attempt at multiple-wing design was this early French triplane. Although it looked more like an airplane, the craft could not fly either.

◄ Givaudan No. i

A third French invention, the aeroplane Givaudan No. 1 was a fanciful flying machine. Equipped with odd front and rear cyclinder wing sections, it never got off the ground.

< Aerodrome No. 5

This model of Langley’s Aerodrome No. 5 shows the machine’s tandem cloth wings, twin pusher propellers, and steam engine, in center. The No. 5 had a wingspan of about 13 feet, a fourth as big as the full – size Great Aerodrome.

The first powered flying machines used steam engines. Yet these were much too heavy and too weak to be practical for flying large aircraft. In the late 1800s, Otto Daimler invented the first gasoline engine. Eventually, lighter-weight and more efficient gas engines helped make manned powered flight possible.

Birdwatching Observing buzzards gave Wilbur his wing-warping idea."My observations of…buzzards,"he wrote,"leads me to believe that they regain their lateral bal­ance, when partly overturned by a gust of wind, by a torsion of the tips of the wings."

The First Flight On December 17,1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville takes off in the Flyer, as Wilbur watches. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. A beach lifeguard took this famous photograph.

► Pilot Control A model shows how Orville controlled the Flyer, today in the National Air and Space Museum. He moved his hips to control wing-warping cables and moved a lever with his hand to make the Flyer’s nose go up or down.

Fun Fact; Coin Toss

The brothers flipped a coin to see who would test-pilot the Flyer first. Wilbur won, but the Flyer stalled. Orville tried next, and the rest is history.

“Js/i І it astonishing that all these secrets hare been preserved for so many years just so we could discover them!!”

—Orville Wright, 1903

A How Wings Lift

An airplane’s wing produces lift by its curved shape, called an "airfoil "Air passing over the rounded upper surface rushes faster than air moving over the flat bottom surface. Ihis creates a low pressure area over the wing. The high pressure area under the wing pushes the wing upward.

Pedal Power

The Wrights attached model wings to a bicycle wheel, and turned it by pedaling to test the wings’ lift. The bicycle men believed a pilot could learn to control an aircraft much as a cyclist learns to balance and control a bike.

The key methods the Wrights used to achieve powered flight were: 1) wings to lift the plane; 2) an engine to propel the plane forward; and 3) movable surfaces, such as wing edges, for control. These are the same principles used to fly a Boeing 747 today.

M Time It!

Wilbur and Orville used this stop watch to time their historic flights at Kitty Hawk. On December 17,1903, the Flyer made four flights, the longest 852 feet in 59 seconds.

The Wrights were the first to realize an airplane propeller is really a small, twisted wing that rotates. They designed propellers of carved wood.

FOR years after their first flight, the \ right brothers received almost no credit or recognition for their accomplishment. Alany at home and abroad scoffed and refused to believe they had even actually flown. Then in 1908. Wilbur went to France and demonstrated an improved Flyer, the Type A. Before a large, skeptical crowd, Wilbur took off. Soaring triumphantly into the sky, he circled the air field, making tight, steeply banked turns and perfect figure eights. The crowd went wild. Before this, they had only seen flying machines that could barely lurch off the ground anti fly with little control. Wilbur was a hero. He flew over 100 demonstrations, lasting up to two hours, and took many passengers up for rides.

After these European demonstrations, the W rights were widely accepted as masters of flight- The next year, W right planes led the wtiv at the world’s first air meet, the 1909 Grande Semaine d’Aviation in Reims, France.

f French Souvenir

Back in America in 1910, Wilbur adjusts a toy kite at Bayside, New Jersey.

He brought the toy from Paris for the son of friend Frank Coffyn.

Seeing is Believing

During a 1908 demonstration in France, Wilbur Wright flies a passenger over a country field. Two farmers watch in awe.

< Off to the Races

Wright planes were showcased at the world’s first air meet in Reims, France, in 1909. Flying a Wright Type A, Eugene Lefebvre rounds a pylon in a race.

After achieving powered flight, the Wright brothers remained fascinated by kites and gliders. They glided for pleasure until Wilbur’s death in 1912. He died of typhoid at age 45. Orville lived to see amazing advances in aviation. He died in 1948 at age 77.

The Wright brothers sued inventors who copied their idea of wing-warping with ailerons. These moveable devices on wings are still used today. They allow the pilot to bank the plane, lifting one wing while lowering the other, on turns. The courts ruled that ailerons are based on the Wrights’idea.