This past week, C & I have been joined by my old Wash U roommate Alan. It has been fun having him crash at our pad, while he attended a conference in town. As part of his visit, another Wash U friend (and former roommate of Alan's, but not mine...confusing, I know) crashed at our pad for a night. It's always good to reconnect with old friends (and cause new mayhem).
THE BLAST INTO SPACE:
The Smithsonian Museums on the Mall in DC are widely visited and home to may artifacts. The Air & Space Museum on the Mall, the most visited museum in DC, is home to many treasurers including the Wright Bros Plane.
But, the greatness of that museum's location leads to its greatest weakness - a tragic lack of size. Say for instance you want to see a super-top-secret plane - alas, not enough room. If you want to see the prototype space shuttle - definitely no room. Want to see the world's first passenger jet with a pressurized cabin - nope, too small a space. The first Concorde ever flown, an interesting collection of a kit aircraft, WWII vintage planes, a polaris missile or a 30 ft tall engine - no way Jose, there's just not enough space (no pun intended) to keep all of that stuff in the Mall's museum.
Solution: Open up the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in a newly constructed (& ginormous) hanger out at Dulles Airport.
And yup, I saw a SR71 Blackbird - The nation's first truly stealth aircraft & the plane that made Area 51 famous; the prototype of the space shuttle (called the Enterprise, oh silliness); the first Concorde; the world's first passenger jet with a pressurized cabin & all of the other stuff mentioned above.
Here are my pics - it was awesome & its number 2 on my: Nerdy Must Visit Sites DC list (behind the Library of Congress)
The SR71 Blackbird Spy Plane
M & the Blackbird
The Space C
M & the Space Shuttle (I'm only as big as the landing gear - no short jokes please)
The first commercial Concorde (Air France)
