Additional Artifacts on Display

In addition to the artifacts located in the eight gallery exhibitions opening Oct. 14 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., there are a number of artifacts displayed in non-gallery locations in the building. This includes spaces in the entrance lobby, outside the planetarium, along walkways and at the west end of the museum. 

Highlights include:

• Goddard Hoopskirt Rocket: Robert Goddard designed and built this device two years after he launched his first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926. The engine at the top pulls the vehicle. To make it as lightweight as possible, Goddard connected the motor and fuel tanks using a simple hollow frame that resembles a 19th-century dress underskirt, a hoop skirt.  
• Studio Model of Starship “Enterprise” from Star Trek: This studio model of starship “U.S.S. Enterprise” (NCC-1701) appeared in the famous opening credits and transition sequences of every episode of the original Star Trek television program (1966–69). Shot on a stand in front of a blue screen, this large prop needed heightened detail, color and texture for visibility on a 1960s TV set. 
• Loving WR-3: This airplane was designed, built and flown by Neal V. Loving—the first Black American and first person with double leg amputations to earn a racing pilot’s license. From 1968 to 1991, Loving recorded in his logbook almost 697 hours of flying time in the WR-3.
• Northrop T-38 Talon: Flying this T-38 in 1961, Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran set eight world records for speed, altitude and distance flying. Cochran flew a range of aircraft and set more than 200 records. She was also the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, in a Canadair Sabre Mk.3.
• Extra 260: Patty Wagstaff won the National Aerobatic Championship title for three consecutive years. In 1991 and 1992, she flew this Extra 260. Her flying skills earned her a place on six U.S. Aerobatic Teams. Wagstaff retired from competition in 1996 to focus on performing at air shows throughout the United States.
• X-wing: This X-wing is a full-sized vehicle used in filming of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), piloted by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Invented for Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977, X-wings take their name from the shape that their strike foil wings (S-foils) make in attack position.
• “The Space Mural: A Cosmic View”: This mural, created by Robert McCall for the opening of this museum in 1976, represents the past, present and future of the universe. The mural represents the optimistic imagination of space exploration.

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SI-316-2022