posted 08-17-2009 06:49 AM               

Goddard Space Flight Center is about 15 miles from NASM.

The NASA headquarters building is just a few blocks away from NASM.

Arlington National Cemetery is about 5 miles away.

If you've got a little more time for driving, the Virginia Air & Space Center, Air Power Park, and Langley Research Center (which no longer has a visitor center on-site) are all in Hampton, Virginia, a bit over 3 hours' drive away.

posted 02-15-2010 12:47 PM               

In it you'll find the Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia", Gemini IV, Friendship 7, LM-2, the second Skylab Orbital Workshop, a full-size Apollo-Soyuz docked configuration, an engineering backup of the Hubble Space Telescope (as well as one of the cameras that was retrieved on STS-125), SpaceShip One, the Wright Brothers' Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, an X-15...too many priceless treasures to list here.

posted 04-13-2010 04:18 PM               

When you walk in they have an Apollo suit and a modern suit, both in display cases naturally. Their library is cool and we got a little tour of the library. They showed us some of the neat things they have like an anti-matter detector from the ISS.

On the security desk they had a binder with the phone numbers/employee directory which I would have loved to look through but it was at the security desk.

At the end of the library, they had a room with a bunch of free stuff and some books for sale. For free I got the following:

• Apollo 30th Anniversary coin containing metal from a Saturn V launch tower
  
• 2 Glory stickers
  
• A book: 'NASA 50 Years of Exploration and Discovery'
  
• Another book: 'NASA's Nuclear Frontier: The Plum Brook Reactor Facility' signed by both authors
  
• Expedition 5, STS-101, STS-117, STS-118, STS-122, STS-127 crew photos/lithos
  
• Signed photo of Steven Swanson
  
• A poster commemorating Apollo
  
• Photos of Eric Boe, Shane Kimbrough, and an old one of Shannon Lucid

posted 11-14-2010 05:50 PM               

• X-15
  
• Human Spaceflight Chronology
  
• Unmanned spacecraft mission chronology
  
• Augustine Report
  
• Human Mars Mission studies

posted 07-24-2014 09:19 AM               

We are going to Washington D.C. and will be going to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. Does NASA's headquarters have much for the public to see? Is there anything else in D.C. worth seeing that is space related?

After two days in D.C. we are going to Chincoteague and will visit NASA's Wallop's Flight Facility, any tips or advice on visiting these places or recommendations for other space spots either nearby or on the way (Baltimore, D.C., Virginia, etc)?

posted 07-24-2014 01:11 PM               

The NASA HQ lobby has been redone. The gift shop (exchange) is open only until 4 p.m. (I think), and they had a small waiting room with books for the taking. (A security lady was nice enough to give us bags.) However, the main library entrance is now on the west side of the building, not through the main entrance.

posted 07-24-2014 03:34 PM               

Although these places may be off limits, you may find some of the items they helped to develop or manufacture at the National Electronic Museum near Linthicum. Although off the beaten trail, it's up the road from Goddard closer to Baltimore. The museum is a very short hop from the BWI airport if you're coming in from that direction.

Among the space related items on display is an actual flight model lunar surface camera identical to the one used on Apollo 11, and a mock-up of the color surface camera that was used in a news cast. The Emmy award given to Westinghouse for developing the Apollo 11 camera is also on display. The museum collection also includes parts from the Apollo 12 lunar surface camera that had failed after being pointed at the sun and pounded on with Al Bean's hammer. The crew returned these pieces from the surface of the moon for further analysis.

posted 07-24-2014 03:52 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by mikej:
Freedom 7 is located at the Naval Academy in Annapolis

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posted 07-25-2014 07:48 AM               

I'll add that and Goddard to our itinerary. Unfortunately, that may be all I get to see (in addition to Smithsonian and Wallops) since I'm the only space enthusiast in the family and the in-laws will be with us. :/

They planned the trip to DC and the beach, I'm just trying to customize my own fun along the way. I'm glad we are renting separate cars.

posted 07-28-2014 06:51 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Glint:
...to see Freedom 7 now one would have to travel up I-95 a ways to the JFK Museum in Boston.

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posted 08-16-2014 08:02 AM               

As Hart S wrote, also check out Smithsonian museums other than Air and Space. Earlier this month, I discovered Alan Shepard's Mercury spacesuit — aluminized nylon, with "A.B. Shepard" on the name tag — as part of a display at the National Museum of American History. The exhibit focused on the different roles of our presidents. I was very surprised to see that spacesuit there! Third floor, in the gallery next to the "First Ladies' Gowns". There was a small sign by one of the boots stating that the spacesuit was on loan from the National Air and Space Museum ("NASM").

Consider Washington's National Episcopal Cathedral. See the "Scientists and Technicians Window," commonly called the "Space Window," which benefactor was Dr. Thomas Paine (NASA Administrator during Apollo). The window, which includes a piece of rock from the Sea of Tranquility, is considered one of the best-loved stained glass windows at the Cathedral, and is spiritually-inspired. It was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of Apollo 11's landing.

National Cathedral was also the site of the national memorial service for the Columbia crew in February 2003, and for a public memorial service in September 2013 following Neil Armstrong's death.

Or visit the National Space Society's Headquarters at 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500.

Also "downtown," through Nov. 30, is "Mars Up Close," an exhibit at the National Geographic Headquarters Museum, featuring full-scale models of the NASA/JPL rovers that have gone to Mars: Curiosity, Spirit/Opportunity, and Sojourner.

I've also enjoyed a fun tribute to Albert Einstein (a bronze lounging 4 ton, 21 foot high sculpture) which is in a grove of trees at the corner of the National Academy of Sciences headquarters property. I remember being surprised when I came upon it soon after it was unveiled. A large, accurate "star map" is at his feet. A peaceful place at 2101 Constitution Ave, NW (close-ish to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial).

If you like libraries, I recommend both libraries mentioned in posts above: the National Air and Space Museum's (on the upper floor — and Lou C is right about the model collection — I saw it around 1980, and still remember how amazing it was!) And the library at (the new) NASA Headquarters. Although it was much more convenient when NASA HQ was in two buildings across from the museum, think of the extra ten minute walk as a pilgrimage. And, as mentioned in a couple of the posts above, a unique selection of NASA publications is usually available for the gracious visitor.

Across the Potomac, Arlington National Cemetery has a memorial to the Challenger crew. Here is a list of twenty-one astronauts buried at Arlington. There's also a second generation sycamore Moon Tree planted at Arlington "in honor of Apollo astronaut Stuart A. Roosa and the other distinguished Astronauts who have departed our presence here on earth."