Some of the original collection remains, which includes the Stringfellow steam engine and the Chinese kites which were donated to the Smithsonian at the closing of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The Museum collection consists of over 50,000 aviation and space related items, as well as NASA commissioned artwork of the early years in space. Two large murals, the Space Mural: A Cosmic View by Robert McCall and Earth Flight Environment by Eric Sloane, cover the east and west walls of the two-level gallery. The Welcome Center gallery features the Voyager, the first airplane to fly non-stop without refueling around the world in 1986. There are 23 galleries within the Museum that follow the history of aviation from the Wright Brothers to space exploration, highlighting the major advancements in technology and the exciting discoveries along the way. Smaller exhibits such as space helmets and suits, microchips, lunar rocks, and other items of interest are on display in galleries within the four cubes, while missiles, rockets, jetliners, and other aircraft are housed within the atriums. Designed by architect Gyo Obata, the facility consists of four large stone cubes connected by three spacious steel and glass atriums.
Originally named the National Air Museum by a 1946 Congressional Act, the main facility between 4th and 7th Street was renamed the National Air and Space Museum when it opened July 4, 1976. The Museum houses the largest collection of air and spacecraft in the world, and serves as a research and education Center for Earth and Planetary Studies in the fields of aviation, planetary science, geophysics, and space flight technology. An estimated nine million people visit the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on the National Mall in our nation’s capital.
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