OF SPECIAL INTEREST
OF SPECIAL INTEREST NEWS
How NASM Will Celebrate America’s 250th
On July 1, 2026, five new galleries at the Narional Mall Building of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) will be opened to the public: Flight and the Arts Center, Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air, the U.S. National Science Foundation Discovering Our Universe, RTX Living in the Space Age, and Textron How Things Fly. The last-mentioned is particularly engaging; it has nearly 50 interactives for learning about flight! The At Home in Space Gallery will open on October 30, and the Modern Military Aviation Gallery will open on Veterans’ Day (November 11).
For more on this exciting development, see: https://airandspace.si.edu/newsroom/press-releases/national-air-and-space-museum-announces-plans-celebrate-50-years!
How the Smithsonian Celebrated our Nation’s Bicentennial
NASM’s National Mall Building was dedicated on July 1, 1976, part of our Nation’s Bicentennial celebration. The Viking 1 spacecraft, comprising both orbiter and lander components, was then in orbit around Mars (it’s lander component would land successfully on Mars on the seventh anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the Moon.
NASM had a replica of the lander’s sampling arm, and a signal from Viking 1 was used to cause it to cut the ribbon at the Dedication Ceremony. President Ford, Vice President Rockefeller, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, and First NASM Director, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, were all in attendance. For more information on this amazing event, see: https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/image/2006-18432hjpg, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_396616, and https://nara.getarchive.net/media/ribbon-cutting-ceremony-at-the-dedication-of-the-national-air-and-space-museum-b2eae3.
See also: Video clip of NASM Opening (narrated by NASM’s Don Lopez!): here; and also NASM Stories: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/new-milestones.
Immediately after WWII, “Hap” Arnold and other key military figures pushed for a museum to commemorate the USA’s victory, particularly the role played by air power. They arranged for a number of important planes and other artifacts be set aside. Congress agreed, well, a bit. They passed an authorization bill to create a National Air Museum under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, on August 12, 1946.
But Congress failed to pass an appropriation bill that would allow the building of the museum needed to house and showcase the planes and artifacts available!
Interest generated by the launch of Sputnik 1 was not sufficient to spur the appropriation. Neither was the donation to the NAM of Shepard’s and Glenn’s Mercury capsules. The nascent collection was moved to the Arts and Industries Building in 1963. The museum expanded its scope, and its name, becoming the National Air and Space Museum in 1966. Still no appropriation. Apollo 11 spiked public interest further. Still no bucks. Senator Barry Goldwater, a retired USAF major general, pushed hard in the Senate for funding, especially in a speech there in in May, 1970. STILL no appropriation.
Senator Goldwater was many things, but a quitter was not one of them. And he picked up a powerful ally along the way. One Michael Collins. Oh, and growing public support, too. The Senator and the history-oriented Astronaut pushed very hard, and finally, Congress relented and appropriated a total of $40 million in support. This was significantly less than the amount desired, and would force some serious “value engineering.” Economies were necessary, and one would come back and bite NASM, forty years and 350 million visitors later.
But who should lead the enormous effort of creating and filling a large museum, on a short time fuse? Who else: Michael Collins!
The tasks Collins faced were formidable, indeed. He had to: Oversee the planning and construction of the new building, ensure that it would open in time for the Bicentennial, hire museum staff, oversee the construction of the galleries the new museum would contain, and found the still-extant Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, one of the three academic units at NASM. Collins soft-pedaled the magnitude of the task when he said it was a “monumental effort” requiring tons of “dedicated teamwork and plain hard work.”
He accomplished all tasks brilliantly. NASM opened on time, had over a million visitors in its first month, and quickly established itself as one of the top four museums in the world in terms of visitorship (two of the other three are Smithsonian units: The National American History Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. The Louvre rounds out the quartet).
Collins somehow found the time to author (without assistance) arguably the best of the astronaut (auto)biographies, Carrying the Fire, in 1974. I find the comparison of going to the Moon and stealing Fire from the Gods to be quite beautiful. Collins retired from the Air Force Reserves in 1982, with a rank of Major General.
Collins was absolutely the right guy in the right place at the right time. He had the necessary combination of education, training, experience, military rank, fame, and political savvy to balance all of the many competing forces buffeting the new museum during its creation and formative years. He held the Directorship until 1978, when he promoted to become Undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
After the Smithsonian, he was the VP at a major aerospace company, and then formed his own consulting agency. He also wrote several other books, including one for children, and enjoyed painting watercolors.
References
Collins, Michael, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey, (40th Anniversary Edition, 2009), Strauss and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374531942
Apollo 11 Mission Report: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11MIssionReport_1971015566.pdf
Project Gemini: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4203/toc.htm
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(astronaut)
NASM: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/remembering-michael-collins
NASM: Statement from Director: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/carrying-fire
NASA is Celebrating the Fourth, Too
With Flag in Space; see: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/high-flying-flags
Exploring Space Lectures!
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum offered several ongoing lecture series has for years, including my favorite, “Exploring Space.” The 2026 series theme is “Milestones of Exploration.” While there are no new installments coming up in the near future, three recent lectures are still available on-line here: https://airandspace.si.edu/event-series/exploring-space-lectures.
Our Future on Mars
Was webcast live on June 3, 2026, with Dr. Kelley Weinersmith and Emily Lakadawalla as speakers, see: https://airandspace.si.edu/whats-on/events/our-future-mars . Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the successful landing of the Viking spacecraft in advance (and the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the National Air and Space Museum’s National Mall building, too, see below). The Viking orbiters/landers were highly successful, leading to a number of important robotic missions to the Red Planet in the ensuing years. The speakers also discuss the challenges and rewards of upcoming human exploration of Mars.
Return to Venus
May’s installment of NASM’s Exploring Space Series was “Return to Venus,” presented by Sara Seager and NASM’s Bruce Campbell; see: https://airandspace.si.edu/whats-on/events/return-venus. Earth’s “fraternal twin” is of particular interest, because understanding why Venus is so different from the only place humans can live is incredibly important. Venus is about the same size as Earth, and its mass is also comparable to Earth’s, which means that its density is similar, which implies its bulk composition is similar. Yet Venus’ atmosphere is mostly CO2 and is ~90x denser than ours, resulting in a runaway greenhouse effect that makes Venus’ surface temperature hot enough to melt lead. The amount of solar energy received be Venus is obviously higher than that reaching Earth, but it is very difficult to see how that relatively minor difference could produce such major differences in surface environment.
One factor in the understanding of our climate system is the concept of “feedback.” In our person-to-person contact, positive feedback is a desirable thing. But in terms of system stability, positive feedback is terribly unstable. Some common examples demonstrate this. In an audio system, if a microphone gets too close to a speaker its linked to via an amplifier, any sound picked up by the mike gets amplified and put out the speaker. The resulting sound gets picked up and amplified again, resulting in a vicious cycle that produces an annoying screech.
Another example of a simple system with both positive and negative feedback is a home heating/air conditioning system. If it gets above the set temperature, the A/C acts against the temperature rise (negative feedback) and pushes the temperature back to the set level. If the temperature gets below that set, the furnace comes on to restore the temperature to that set. Now imagine if the system were cross-wired. If the temperature dropped below that set, the A/C would come on and make the situation even worse (positive feedback). Conversely, if the temperature rose above the set point, the furnace would come on and make the situation worse.
Another example: Imagine skateboarding on top of a large pipe. As long as you stayed above the centerline of the pipe, you’d be OK. But if you strayed from the centerline, even a little, gravity would cause you to fall off the pipe. On the other hand, if you were inside the pipe, you could travel safely; gravity would negate any deviation from the lowest point on the pipe.
The Earth’s climate system is complex, and contains a number of different feedback relationships. For example, if global temperatures rise a bit, ice near the poles melt back a bit, reducing the area of the highly-reflective ice cover allowing more heating of the surface, an example of positive feedback.
Here’s the troubling part. We have certain proof that human activity can cause local, regional, and even global change in the Earth’s climate parameters. The complex feedbacks mentioned previously are coming into play in ways we do not fully understand. Humankind is conducting an uncontrolled experiment in the only “test tube” in which we can live.
Here’s why Venus, so much like the Earth, yet with a surface environment so different, is so important. If all of the CO2 equivalent in Earth’s biosphere (our bodies, all plants, and all animals) could be liberated to our atmosphere, it would be 90X denser than it is today, and it would be almost all CO2. Just like Venus.
Many articles have been written about the dangers of a “runaway” greenhouse on Earth. One such is from EOS, a publication of the American Geophysical Union; see here.
Humans and Robots on Other Worlds
The April installment in the Exploring Space Lecture Series can be found here: https://airandspace.si.edu/whats-on/events/humans-and-robots-other-worlds. It was a panel discussion hosted by Astronaut Robert Curbeam, JPL Engineer and Robotics Technologist Havard Grip, and NASM’s own Valerie Neal. Robotic exploration of the Moon and planets has been an important part of the successes of NASA, ESA, and other agencies for over sixty years, and is essential in the upcoming return to the Moon and on to Mars efforts underway in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Sad News
A very valuable education resource is going away! The Annenberg Learner website will sunset on July 1, 2026. AL has been providing all sorts of educational support books, multi-media resources and more. One of my favorite items was their 20-minute documentary, A Private Universe (https://www.learner.org/series/a-private-universe), about otherwise-outstanding Harvard students continued to hold confused ideas about basic science concepts, particularly in astronomy. You can still access APU from the Annenberg site, but that will be going away. Copies are available on-line if you search.
OF SPECIAL INTEREST FYI
NASA is “Cool Again”: A recent Aviation Week“Check 6” podcast was recorded at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, delving into the latest developments in space exploration and defense.
“The hosts discuss the energy and excitement (at the Symposium), particularly following the Artemis II mission. Key topics include the Department of the Air Force's new contracts for space-based air moving target indication satellites, a significant step for the Space Force.
“The conversation also highlights NASA's efforts to capitalize on the Artemis mission's success to boost budgets across the space community. The hosts note the rapid pace of contracting and partnerships, such as NASA's collaboration with the Italian Space Agency for a moon habitation module.
“The symposium is described as a pivotal moment for both defense and commercial space sectors, with a notable international presence, though China was absent. The discussion touches on the competitive dynamics with China, particularly in the context of lunar exploration and military space capabilities.
“The episode concludes with reflections on the symposium's impact and the enthusiasm it generated among attendees.”
Speaking of Cool… Remember Jethro Tull? Ian Anderson, the eccentric flutist and leader of the group, played a duet with Cady Coleman, while she was on the ISS, in the honor of Yuri Gagarin’s first flight. Check it out at: https://youtu.be/XeC4nqBB5BM?si=FhZ9Ha5F3ziy4CMk! Coleman flew twice on the Space Shuttle and served a stint on the ISS. Her second shuttle mission was STS-93 in 1999, the flight where Eileen Collins became the first female to command a Shuttle mission; Cady was the mission specialist responsible for the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
[Astronaut Collins was born in Elmira, New York, not far from where I grew up. She attended Corning Community College, which had an observatory I used in my formative years. Elmira is in New York’s Southern Tier, and it boasts of being the birthplace of two astronauts, Collins and Doug “Wheels” Wheeler, who was born in Binghamton.]
See more Cady and Tull here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sIvC3fdzqsU&si=oRHQnXMM1qX7DDR9!
More music? Sure, check out my good friend Bert Lams of the California Guitar Trio on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1518354919936314/?fs=e&fs=e.
China Expands Military Space Capabilities:Aviation Week’s Military Space Editor Vivienne Machi posted an article recently on this important topic, here: https://aviationweek.com/space/budget-policy-regulation/hide-seek-orbit-china-expands-military-space-capabilities. And although it isn’t a direct military threat, she notes that China plans to launch a constellation of over 200,000 satellites to LEO… And the FCC just authorized SpaceX to make an expansion of its Starlink system. [Why am I having an Olber’s Paradox flash-back?]
OF SPECIAL INTEREST LINKS AND OTHER INFORMATION
“How the U.S. Space Force Aims to Avoid a Second Sputnik Moment” is an interesting piece by Vivienne Machi, the Military Space Editor for Aviation Week. See it here: https://aviationweek.com/space/budget-policy-regulation/how-us-space-force-aims-avoid-second-sputnik-moment.
For Those of You in the Colorado Springs Area: The Space Foundation Discovery Center on Garden of the Gods Avenue has undergone a significant expansion and updating. Find out more about it at: https://discoverspace.org and more about the Space Foundation at: https://www.spacefoundation.org. In addition, the Planetarium at the U.S. Air Force Academy offers a variety of public programs; for more information, see: https://www.usafa.edu/facilities/planetarium. But be advised that the Academy has new stringent requirements to enter. The Academy also has great STEM outreach programming for students and teachers, see: https://www.usafa.edu/research/stem-outreach.
Jack Cross: I have met an interesting fellow on-line via one of NASM’s wonderful Docents. His name is Jack Cross, and he proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1954 as a Bosun’s Mate. He was on a series of warships at first, then he moved over to the USS Yellowstone, a tender that served the Navy’s Sixth Fleet. He joined the Navy and saw the world!
Now retired, Jack has put together a series of picture-rich PowerPoint presentations. He kindly gave me permission to post three of them already, one about D-Day, one about “A Day of Mercy in the Sky,” and one about his Navy career, which gives a real interesting look at what Navy life was like at the start of the Cold War. Check all three out on the Archive: Other Stuff page of the website! Thank you, Jack!
DOCENTS (and all others interested in Solar System exploration history): If you don’t have an on-line copy of Fordham University’s Asif A. Siddiqi’s fabulous book, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, you should. You can find it at: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/beyond_earth_detail.html.