Change is in the Air: Moving Artifacts Back into the Building
April 7, 2021 | In the PressFrom Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/change-air-moving-artifacts-back-building)
Change is in the air at the National Air and Space Museum! We are in the midst of a multi-year renovation of our location in Washington, DC — a project that will reimagine all 23 galleries and presentation spaces and create a brand new Air and Space for our millions of visitors.
In December 2018, we began moving some artifacts out of the museum, including almost all of the artifacts on the west end of the building. And now we've hit a major milestone on the project — we've begun moving those artifacts back into the building for installation in their new exhibition homes. Explore our progress in this new video:
Get a behind-the-scenes look at this exciting phase of the National Air and Space Museum through our Flickr gallery. From those early artifact moves to deinstallation of our west end exhibits to our exciting current progress of artifacts returning to the building, the Flickr album captures the incredible scope of the project. Recent highlights include aircraft being installed in the upcoming Nation of Speed exhibition. Nation of Speed 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 wings of the Turner RT-14 Meteor being raised up to the second floor:
Smithsonian photo by Jim Preston.
The empty (but not for long!) gallery that will be home to the Nation of Speed exhibition:
Smithsonian photo by Jim Preston.
The Nemesis air racer prepared to be raised for installation in Nation of Speed:
Smithsonian photo by Jim Preston.
Turner RT-14 Meteor installed in its new home in the Nation of Speed gallery:
