James S McDonnell Space Hangar - 5/9/2023
Oct 25, 2023 17:51:05 GMT 1
Beemer, viscount, and 9 more like this
Post by andyh on Oct 25, 2023 17:51:05 GMT 1
James S McDonnell Space Hangar, National Air & Space Museum, Dulles
And so to the final thread from my trip to the USA (thank goodness, some of you may say!).
One of the absolute highlights for me was the James S McDonnell Space Hangar. It’s on the opposite side of the main building and in line with the main entrance. So, as soon as you walk through the security checkpoint at the entrance your eye initially gets drawn to the inverted Pitts Special, and then the Lockheed SR.71 Blackbird. Gradually you realise that beyond that, framed by a high square archway, is the Space Shuttle Discovery.
As you’ll see from the pictures below the effect is very dramatic. Having grown up watching regular shuttle launches and the Challenger and Columbia disasters, to finally see and get up close to one of the remaining craft was very special. Even Mrs H was a little bit taken by it.
Space Shuttle Discovery
Discovery was the longest-serving of the shuttle fleet, first launching in 1984 and completing her final flight in 2011. She flew 39 out of a total of 135 space shuttle missions, spending a total of 365 days in space. Discovery put the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit and undertook the first shuttle docking with the International Space Station. Getting to see the craft up close, you begin to get a sense of how fragile it actually was in the face of the harsh environment of space and earth re-entry.
Gemini 4 Capsule
So Gemini 4 is a little before my time. It was launched in 1965 on board a Titan II rocket, staying in space for four days. I was astounded to realise that the capsule accommodated a crew of two - it seems really small up close! It’s historic because one of the crew, Edward H. White II, exited the vehicle for 22 minutes to become the first American to perform a spacewalk.
Mercury Capsule Friendship 7
Dating back even earlier than Gemini 4, the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 carried John Glenn in to space on 20th February 1962, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. He was in space ‘just’ 4 hours and 55 minutes.
One of the things that stood out for me on both capsules was the clear signs of the intense heat on the heat shields. The physicists, mathematicians and engineers really earned their corn with these amazing feats of science and engineering.
The Space Hangar (as you might expect) contains a range of rockets, missiles and satellites. I’ve included a few examples below.
46-062, Bell X-1
And finally, I wasn’t sure whether to include the X-1 here with the spacecraft or in one of the other threads on the main museum. It sort of sits between air and space and indeed is positioned just outside the entrance to the Space hangar.
And so to the final thread from my trip to the USA (thank goodness, some of you may say!).
One of the absolute highlights for me was the James S McDonnell Space Hangar. It’s on the opposite side of the main building and in line with the main entrance. So, as soon as you walk through the security checkpoint at the entrance your eye initially gets drawn to the inverted Pitts Special, and then the Lockheed SR.71 Blackbird. Gradually you realise that beyond that, framed by a high square archway, is the Space Shuttle Discovery.
As you’ll see from the pictures below the effect is very dramatic. Having grown up watching regular shuttle launches and the Challenger and Columbia disasters, to finally see and get up close to one of the remaining craft was very special. Even Mrs H was a little bit taken by it.
Space Shuttle Discovery
Discovery was the longest-serving of the shuttle fleet, first launching in 1984 and completing her final flight in 2011. She flew 39 out of a total of 135 space shuttle missions, spending a total of 365 days in space. Discovery put the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit and undertook the first shuttle docking with the International Space Station. Getting to see the craft up close, you begin to get a sense of how fragile it actually was in the face of the harsh environment of space and earth re-entry.
Gemini 4 Capsule
So Gemini 4 is a little before my time. It was launched in 1965 on board a Titan II rocket, staying in space for four days. I was astounded to realise that the capsule accommodated a crew of two - it seems really small up close! It’s historic because one of the crew, Edward H. White II, exited the vehicle for 22 minutes to become the first American to perform a spacewalk.
Mercury Capsule Friendship 7
Dating back even earlier than Gemini 4, the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 carried John Glenn in to space on 20th February 1962, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. He was in space ‘just’ 4 hours and 55 minutes.
One of the things that stood out for me on both capsules was the clear signs of the intense heat on the heat shields. The physicists, mathematicians and engineers really earned their corn with these amazing feats of science and engineering.
The Space Hangar (as you might expect) contains a range of rockets, missiles and satellites. I’ve included a few examples below.
46-062, Bell X-1
And finally, I wasn’t sure whether to include the X-1 here with the spacecraft or in one of the other threads on the main museum. It sort of sits between air and space and indeed is positioned just outside the entrance to the Space hangar.
