Smithsonian Treasures of the National Air and Space Museum - Paperback

by Tony Reichhardt (Author), National Air and Space Museum (With)

Get up close and personal with iconic aviation and space artifacts from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, the world's largest and most noteworthy collection

Smithsonian Treasures of the National Air and Space Museum is a spectacularly illustrated, full-color guide to the most impressive, important, and interesting artifacts from the museum's vast collection. The book moves through chronological chapters, from the flight of kites, balloons, and the first airplanes, to 21st-century space tourism and NASA's new Artemis program. Each chapter features photographs and rich history on incredible objects that captivate visitors on a daily basis, including:

• Taking Flight: Early balloons and the 1903 Wright Flyer

• Aviation Goes to War: World War I aircraft and Eddie Rickenbacker's uniform

• The Shrinking Globe: Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and Robert Goddard's liquid-fuel rocket

• World War II: P-51 Mustang, B-26 bomber, and other iconic warbirds

• Jet Age Meets Space Age (Postwar): Chuck Yeager's flight jacket and Alan Shepard's spacesuit

• The Moon and Beyond: Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit and the Apollo lunar module

• Pushing Boundaries: The Hubble Space Telescope and Boeing 747

• Into the Future: Starship Enterprise from Star Trek and the Merlin engine from SpaceX

Skip the crowds and enjoy the most engaging and revolutionary objects the museum has to offer! Smithsonian Treasures of the National Air and Space Museum is a sweeping tribute to more than a century's worth of aviation and space history that shows how far we've come and how far we can go.

Author Biography

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION is the largest museum complex in the world, and its National Air and Space Museum is one of the most popular sites in Washington, DC. TONY REICHHARDT served as senior editor of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine and a news correspondent for Nature magazine. He writes frequently about space, science, and history.