Visitors will soon get their first chance to gape at the new and improved National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall, which is halfway through a $1 billion renovation and slated to reopen to the public on Oct. 14.
The Smithsonian Institution hosted a media tour Thursday to show off the building’s west wing, which is chock full of really cool stuff including a model of the USS Enterprise from “Star Trek,” the original flyer built by the pioneering Wright brothers in 1903, and the spacesuit Neil Armstrong wore when he became the first man to step foot on the moon in July 1969.
But beyond the physical presence of the objects are some pretty compelling stories, Chris Browne, the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the museum, said in remarks Thursday morning. Stories about people like Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier in a Northrop T-38 Talon jet, which is suspended inside one part of the museum.
“That’s an important story, that’s a connection…
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