The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, is about to enter its final phase of renovation. Over the last seven years, the museum has undergone updates and redesigns to its facilities and 20 different exhibits. Nearly 5 million visitors have explored the Air and Space Museum since 2022, when the last round of new galleries opened.
On July 28, the museum will be opening five new exhibits, the Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater, and a redesigned entrance on Jefferson Drive.
The new exhibits and galleries include the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall; Futures in Space; Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight; World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation; and the Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery, which explores how new inventions shape aviation and space exploration.
Throughout these exhibits, guests will be able to find plenty of old with the new, like the return of the Spirit of St. Louis and Apollo Lunar Module 2. Artifacts making their debuts include the WWI aircraft the Sopwith F.1 Camel; Virgin Galactic’s RocketMotorTwo, the hybrid engine that powered Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo into space for the first time in 2018; a Blue Origin New Shepard crew capsule mockup; and a Goddard 1935 A series rocket.
Free timed entry passes for the new galleries are now available on the museum’s website. The final phase of the renovation is set to be completed by July 2026 for the museum’s 50th anniversary and the country’s 250th birthday celebration.
Feature image courtesy Smithsonian Institution
This story originally ran in our July Issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
