Air and Space Museum in Spotlight as X-wing Exhibition Announced – The Great Courses Daily News

By Jonny Lupsha, Current Events WriterBeing unloaded from a US Air Force Douglas C-133B-DL Cargomaster, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, this first Atlas launch vehicle was intended to launch an unmanned Mercury spacecraft into orbit, but it exploded at launch. Photo by NASA / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

For the first time in its history, Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington, D.C. will soon feature a full-size aircraft not based on real-life air or space travel. An X-wing, one of the fighter spaceships from George Lucass Star Wars universe, will be exhibited at the world-famous museum alongside historical artifacts like Neil Armstrongs Apollo 11 spacesuit.

The National Air and Space Museum makes for a crucial stop when visiting the nations capital. In his video series Experiencing America: A Smithsonian Tour through American History, Dr. Richard Kurin, the Smithsonians Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, said that exhibits include several capsules from NASAs Mercury missions.

Visitors to the Air and Space Museums sister site, the Steven F. UdvarHazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, are bound to see a real capsule from NASAs Mercury missions. How did they come about?

President Dwight D. Eisenhower formed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)as a civilian government agency on October 1, 1958, Dr. Kurin said. Its first mission, Project Mercury, was to put an American into orbit. NASA designed and built a small nose-cone capsule that would be launched into space atop a rocketthe challenge, aside from achieving a successful launch and orbit, would be to return the astronaut to Earth alive.

According to Dr. Kurin, NASA engineers came up with the idea of a conical spacecraft with a cylindrical nose. On the other end, a broad, flat base was covered by a fiberglass and resin heat shield. This would create a shock wave to slow down the spacecraft during re-entry.

NASA recruited astronauts from the military, especially test pilots, who helped work on the Mercury designs and make them more operator-friendly; and in 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to enter space.

Downtown at the Air and Space Museum, another historic item from the Mercury missions is on display in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall: the space capsule Friendship 7.

On February 20, 1962, 41-year-old former jet fighter pilot John Glenn was propelled into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Dr. Kurin said. Glenns space capsule, the Friendship 7, was fabricated by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. Its skin and structure were made of titanium, with nickel-steel alloy and beryllium shingles.

Dr. Kurin said it was a small aircraftjust 11 feet along and six feet across at its base. It was so small, in fact, that astronauts would joke that you dont get in the Friendship 7 so much as you put it on. Glenn orbited the Earth three times in approximately five hours, communicating by radio with NASAs Mercury Mission Control and taking pictures with two cameras and a rigged pistol grip that helped accommodate his bulky gloves. It splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean and Glenn was retrieved by the USS Noa.

Friendship 7 went on what became known as the fourth orbit, which is really a goodwill tour around the world, Dr. Kurin said. It arrived at the Smithsonian in November 1962 and was placed on display; in 1976, the space capsule was moved into the National Air and Space Museum, which opened up on the National Mall for the Bicentennial of the United States.

It was a testament to Americas spirit of discovery.

Edited by Angela Shoemaker, The Great Courses Daily

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Air and Space Museum in Spotlight as X-wing Exhibition Announced - The Great Courses Daily News