The aircraft at the Air and Space Museum represent a century of aviation history.

With nearly 10 million visitors a year, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. is the most popular museum in the world. Opened in 1976, the massive building is home to many of the most important vehicles in the history of aviation and space exploration and is a must-see for anyone visiting our nation’s capital for the first time.

Following a distinguished 36-year career in the Marine Corps, which included combat service in Vietnam and tenure as the organization’s Assistant Commandant, General John R. (Jack) Dailey became the Associate Deputy Administrator of NASA. Since January 2000, Dailey has served as Director of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He is leading the effort to open the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a 760,000-square-foot-facility at Washington Dulles International Airport, which will display more than 180 aircraft and 100 spacecraft currently in storage. Here he describes what visitors can expect to see at the Air and Space Museum.

• Real aircraft. One of the things that make General Dailey proud is the fact that the planes and spacecraft on display at the museum are all the real things, not replicas. If you gaze up at a plane suspended from the ceiling or peer into an orbiter capsule, you can be sure that you’re looking at the actual vehicle rather than a reproduction.

• 100 years of flight. The vehicles in the museum’s collection represent some of the most important milestones and achievements in flight, and include the Wright brothers’ flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module Columbia. The Milestone Gallery features many such iconic vehicles from the last 100 years of flight.

• Movies and shows. If you plan to spend a whole day at the museum, which is easy to do, Dailey recommends taking in a movie, such as To Fly or Space Station 3D. The museum’s planetarium shows are also very popular.

• Tons of fun. A good day at the museum, says Dailey, would include one show in the morning and one in the afternoon, with lunch and gallery time in between. There are so many exhibits and activities in the museum that you’re likely to run out of time long before you run out of things to do or see.

National Air and Space Museum
www.nasm.si.edu

The National Park Service
www.nps.gov

Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism
www.washington.org

D.C. Heritage
www.dcheritage.org

D.C. Registry: Tourism
dcregistry.com/sights.html

All Around Washington, D.C.
www.allaroundwashingtondc.com