This was a great little museum to spend some time in (other than the surly receptionist at the entrance). Their collections are eclectic and cover eras from World War II (the V-2 rocket) up through the space shuttle program. The displays start on the fifth floor and you wind your way down through the floors of the museum.
Here are some of the things we found on display, both indoors and out.
Sputnik model
Mercury-Gemini-Apollo programs
Alan Shepard
John Glenn
Apollo Missions
Apollo 11
Some miscellany
There is a fun section devoted to science fiction shows and some of their uniforms 😊
In the late 50s and early 60s, NASA "trained" (tortured) chimpanzees to follow simple commands so NASA could send them into space to be sure a human would survive. Ham was first and took a sub-orbital flight on January 31, 1961. He lived and the Mercury program continued with flights by Shepard and Grissom. Before NASA would allow Glenn to orbit the earth on the third Mercury flight, they sent Enos up to make two orbits on November 29, 1961. Enos made it and Glenn took his historic flight. This museum not only remembers the poor chimps but it is also the gravesite location for Ham.
Photo of Enos
Ham
Ham was allowed to "retire" in 1963 and lived for many years in the Washington D.C. National Zoo. He was moved to a North Carolina zoo in 1980 and died in 1983. His skeleton is kept at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the rest of his remains are buried here.
The museum is in a great spot, high on a hill, and definitely worth a visit.
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