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Building on a commitment from Congress, we will raise $250 million from leaders in the aerospace industry and people like you to dramatically transform our exhibitions and renovate the entire Museum, inside and out.

07 years devoted to transforming the world’s most popular museum

1,400 new objects on display

23 galleries and spaces being reimagined for immersive learning

The transformation of the Museum represents an unprecedented moment in the conservation and preservation of thousands of artifacts, as well as a remarkable evolution of the Museum’s immersive learning experience.

America by Air explores the history of air transportation in America and the ways that improvements in technology have revolutionized air travel. This rendering shows a revamped approach to the Museum’s commercial aviation gallery.

The Wright Brothers exhibition will provide visitors unprecedented access to the iconic 1903 Wright Flyer while unraveling the story of invention and innovation.

The Nation of Speed exhibition will recount humankind’s desire to become the fastest on land, sea, air, and space in the pursuit of commerce, power, and prestige. This new gallery will be a portrait of human ingenuity and will explore how the pursuit of speed has shaped American culture and our national identity.

The Thomas W. Haas We All Fly gallery will celebrate how the availability of different types of aircraft made it possible for a wide range of people to fly. The exhibition will take visitors through the many different forms of general aviation from aerobatics and air racing to gliders and ultralights to business aviation to agriculture and firefighting. Interactive elements will put visitors in the cockpit.

Between the first flights at Kitty Hawk and the opening guns of WWI, the design and construction of aircraft and engines became a global industrial enterprise. The Early Flight exhibition will use artifacts such as the 1909 Wright Military Flyer and the Blériot XI to explore the impact of the airplane on politics and international relations. Mechanical interactives will allow visitors to operate different types of control systems and interact with digital representations of early aviation pioneers.

The One World Connected exhibition will tell the story of how flight fostered two momentous changes in everyday life: the ease in making connections across vast distances and a new perspective of Earth as humanity’s home. Featuring an array of satellites, the exhibit will ask visitors to consider how global interconnection touches their lives and imagine how advances in technology might impact our future.

The Destination Moon exhibition will explore the extraordinary combination of motivations, resources, and technologies that made it possible for humans to go to the Moon. The exhibition’s highlights will include the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit, and a Saturn V engine.

The Exploring the Planets exhibition will probe the science and history of our understanding of planets and moons. The exhibition will be arranged around dynamic, immersive audiovisual experiences to simulate different planetary landscapes and present visitors a view of standing on other planets.

With this transformation, we will create new spaces for wonder, discovery, and STEAM learning for millions of visitors from around the world. An experience at the National Air and Space Museum will become a launch pad for a lifetime of exploration. These renderings hint at the exciting changes to come and represent the first eight galleries to be reimagined.

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