“Spirit of Tuskegee” arrives at the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar – Part II

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on August 19, 2011 in Aviation, History and Stories.
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This post is a follow up to the following:
Tuskegee Bird Flies North
Spirit of Tuskegee Arrives at Andrews AFB

During the Stearman trip to DC, while each and every moment created either a new and exciting memory for me or revived one of the old ones from my Air Force flying days, there were two moments that I will vividly remember forever.

The first took place after departing the Blue Ridge Municipal Airport near Martinsville, VA. We flew over the NASCAR track at Martinsville, a short track famous for exciting, tight, hard-nosed races and then turned northeast toward Lynchburg. Approaching the Virginia border, I reminded Matt that Appomattox Court House was just a few miles off course to the east. We had discussed the significance of the location before we took off and with excellent weather and some keen eyes we found the McLean House in Appomattox Court House, VA, and flew a few orbits over the very location where Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant—essentially ending the American Civil War.

 

NASCAR

Martinsville Raceway, Virginia. The only NASCAR track that hosted a race in the first official season of cup racing that still holds NASCAR events today.

 

Appomattox

McLean House in Appomattox Court House, VA. The location of Lee’s surrender to Grant in April 1865.

 

Here we were, flying an airplane that had been flown by the Tuskegee Airmen during a conflict that had taken place 80 years after the Civil War—a war that brought an end to the institution of slavery. It was these Airmen who continued the civil struggle. Their struggles resulted in the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1947, and eventually, the entire country. But the real significance of this aircraft really began to sink in at this point. Not only did segregated Tuskegee Airmen fly this plane, but in the past three years, many of those same Airmen had flown in it once again—only now in a racially integrated nation that they themselves had helped to create! It is this contemporary story that is crucial—it is a story of both “history” and “culture” that is to be preserved and documented by the new museum for generations of Americans not yet born. This aircraft represents a nation’s ability to change. It was a humbling moment that we two shared in silence below the purr of the Lycoming engine.

 

signatures

Signatures of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen that have flown in the Stearman in the past three years

 

 

spirit of tuskegee

Captain Quy and Tina make their final approach to landing at Dulles

The second moment occurred at the back door of the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar after Matt and Tina flew the final hop before transferring the plane to the Smithsonian.  After eight hops, eleven hours, 800 miles, and countless visual and physical experiences during the journey north, I fell in love with the Stearman. The freedom of the open cockpit, the smells, and the historic significance of this plane, the skill and whit of a youthful Air Force pilot, the exhilaration and just plain fun of the entire experience—it was miraculous! But the moment that I will always remember was when Matt and Tina, having just ferried the Stearman from Andrews AFB to Dulles Airport, removed their flight headgear for the final time and looked over at the small group that had gathered at Hazy for their arrival. It looked to me like a few tears had been shed during the taxi from Dulles, through the taxiway gate, and to the restoration hangar. For six years, this young couple—an active duty USAF Captain and a full time sales rep—had invested blood, sweat, money, time, research, and now tears into this artifact and it was part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s collection where it will continue to tell the Tuskegee Airmen’s story. I must say, when Matt and Tina’s parents joined them at the aircraft with hugs and pride bursting from their faces, my happy tears stained the tarmac along with rest of them.  Matt and Tina were giving up their baby, and they knew it. After just a few short hours flying in that plane, I understood the emotions—a part of that Stearman will stay with me forever.

 

Spirit of Tuskegee

Captain Matt and Tina Quy

 

Captain Matt and Tina Quy

Tina and Matt look at the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar with a bit of awe

 

proud parents

Matt and Tina with their extremely proud parents

Soon the Spirit of Tuskegee will move from the restoration hangar to the south end of the Udvar-Hazy Center where it will remain on display until 2014. Then it will be moved to the exhibition space of the not-yet-built National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Spirit of Tuskegee

The PT-13D Stearman Spirit of Tuskegee parked inside the restoration hangar awaiting retrofit for display

In future installments, I’ll recount some of the really fun, funny, and awesome trip happenings, some background on the collaborative efforts that have taken place within the Smithsonian that made this acquisition possible, and also fill you in on the aircraft retrofit and display location at UHC.

On Thursday, 25 August, I will be presenting a talk at 1230 at the Udvar-Hazy Center about the Stearman. Please join me at the Hazy Center next Thursday for “Ask an Expert.”

 

Dik Daso is curator of modern military aircraft in the Museum’s Aeronautics Division.

 

“How the Shuttle Got Its Wings”

Published by Tim Grove on August 15, 2011 in Behind The Scenes, Education, History, News & Events and space.
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“How the Shuttle Got Its Wings” is a brand new interactive theater program the Museum is presenting this summer in the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition. We are fortunate that the Smithsonian family includes Discovery Theater, a theater group that focuses on young audiences. We approached them more than a year ago about creating a program highlighting the space shuttle program, especially for the Moving Beyond Earth stage.  The show finally debuted in mid-July and our timing couldn’t have been better. The successful mission of shuttle Atlantis several weeks ago closes the book on the space shuttle story. The topic has been all over the news and many of our visitors want to talk about it. The program is presented four times daily to enthusiastic audiences who want to reminisce about the shuttle era.

 

How the Shuttle Got its Wings

Actor Jennifer Joyner presents “How the Shuttle Got its Wings”

The 20-minute program starts with an excerpt from President Nixon’s 1972 speech announcing the development of “an entirely new type of space transportation system… it will revolutionize transportation into near space by routinizing it.” Routine, reusable, safe, and affordable… four words we repeat often in the program. Those were the goals for the shuttle. The story unfolds through the eyes of an aerospace engineer. We chose that character because the story is about the shuttle itself — its various components, its design, and its role.

The program is based heavily on the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition script (currently in development), which focuses on the space shuttle era. The second phase of the exhibition, opening in 2012, will feature fascinating models of what the shuttle could have looked like, a life-sized shuttle mid-deck that visitors can explore, and many objects flown in space and just recently de-accessioned by NASA.

 

How the Shuttle Got its Wings

Actor Calvin McCullough presents "How the Shuttle Got its Wings."

We worked with the Discovery Theater staff to ensure that the program is highly participatory. Younger ages enjoy helping to put pieces of a shuttle together and representing the different roles the shuttle has played over the years… delivery truck, space bus, service station, science laboratory, and international project. Older visitors enjoy remembering major accomplishments of each orbiter. The program ends with the question: Did the shuttle program meet the criteria set for it? Routine, reusable, safe, and affordable. The audience gets to vote. Our goal is to send audiences away thinking about this one-of-a-kind vehicle and its role in the history of American technology.

What do you think? Did the shuttle program meet the criteria?

The Museum continues to experiment with different ways to engage our visitors and educate people about our collections and research.  This experiment with theater has been well received.  If you haven’t seen the program, it runs daily through August 21 and then a few weekend dates after that. Check the website for times.

Tim Grove is Chief of Education for the National Air and Space Museum’s National Mall Building.

Space Shuttle: The End of An Era

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on August 10, 2011 in History and space.
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I had my first glimpse of the end of the shuttle era in April, three months before Atlantis touched down from the final shuttle mission. Discovery had just completed its last flight, and I had an opportunity to visit Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) Bay 3, which for years had been Discovery’s home for between-mission servicing. Discovery did not return to Bay 3 after STS-133, moving instead into Bay 1 for post-flight work.

Servicing home of Discovery

Servicing home of Discovery

 

badge board

Badge Board, normally filled with badges of workers on duty in the Orbiter Processing Facility

I noticed the difference immediately. The empty slots on the badge board on the wall leading to the entrance signaled that no one was at work inside. The check-in desk was vacant, with only a few papers strewn about. The central space normally filled by Discovery and three stories of surrounding work platforms was an empty cavern. With work stands and protective pads stowed to the side, tool boxes closed and locked, computers idled, the hangar and its warren of work areas normally humming with activity stood eerily silent. OPF3 felt suddenly abandoned.  It reminded me of Pompeii.

 

Idled orbiter servicing bay

Idled orbiter servicing bay

Closed buildings and the wrenching loss of employees who spent most of their careers working on the space shuttle are perhaps the most poignant signs of the end of an era that changed the character of spaceflight. The space shuttle made spaceflight seem a more routine, normal part of our nation’s activity. It enabled the United States and its partner nations to make near-Earth orbit a home and workplace.

To fulfill its variety of missions, the versatile space shuttle required crews with more skills and abilities than piloting, thus opening opportunities for scientists, engineers, women, and people of color to join a demographically more diverse astronaut corps. The space shuttle democratized and internationalized human spaceflight. It enabled the growth of new disciplines in microgravity science—biological and physical sciences that explored the fundamental nature of anything in an environment without the dominant influence of gravity.

The last three missions flown in 2011 prompted much commentary about the legacy of the shuttle era. No doubt the evaluation will continue for some time. But in the empty Orbiter Processing Facility, I spotted one authentic assessment scrawled on a whiteboard, probably by someone soon to be out of work:   “Goodbye people. It’s been awesome!”

 

Whiteboard

“Goodbye people. It’s been awesome!”

Valerie Neal is the space shuttle curator in the Space History Division of the National Air and Space Museum.

The Last Space Shuttle Mission

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on August 8, 2011 in History, space and Stories.
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I was thrilled to be a part of the NASA Tweetup for STS-135 July 7 and 8 at Kennedy Space Center. It was exciting — and almost surreal — to be there for the end of the space program that my generation grew up with. We weren’t around for the Moon landings, but we all remember the first time the space shuttle “took off like a rocket and landed like a plane.”

Space Shuttle Atlantis

July 8, 2011: "Atlantis" launches for the last time on mission STS-135. Photo credit: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum.

NASA holds “tweetups”  — gatherings of people who use the social networking site Twitter — as part of their outreach strategy to raise awareness for the agency’s programs. It is a great opportunity to meet 150 people who care deeply about the space program, are eager to help spread the word and especially want to share the excitement of space exploration.

On July 8 we got to the press site before sunrise and anxiously waited, along with hundreds of reporters from all over the world, to hear if Atlantis was “go for launch.” Most people were not optimistic.  And then the sky cleared and we hardly had time to realize that this was it: the final launch was about to happen and we were there to see it. As if in a movie, there even was the additional excitement of countdown stopping a few seconds before launch.

I took many pictures and tweeted as much as I could, but no words or images can convey the launch experience: the blinding light, the noise so loud you feel it in your chest and the incredible pride that we were able to build a rocket that can take humans safely to space!

STS-135

"Atlantis" races toward space. Photo credit: Isabel Lara, National Air and Space Museum.

It was a bittersweet moment, the program is ending and we’re all waiting to hear what comes next. We are fortunate here at the Museum, because we will be a part of the orbiters’ next mission: to inspire future generations of space explorers. When Discovery comes to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center next year it isn’t really retiring; it’s changing careers, from space explorer to science educator.

I was incredibly lucky to have a front-row seat to this historic event. I was surprised by how people reacted to my tweets, the questions they asked and how happy they were to share the experience with me. The best reply came from my friend @VaneGill11: I felt as if I was reading a paragraph of history being written sentence by sentence.

Isabel Lara is the media relations manager in the Office of Communications at the National Air and Space Museum.

 

Spirit of Tuskegee Arrives at Andrews AFB

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on August 6, 2011 in Aviation, History and Stories.
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This post is a follow up to Tuskegee Bird Flies North.

…So I was on the phone Monday evening and my wife asked me, “Well, what did you do today?”

With subtle nonchalance I said, “Well, I strapped into the front seat of Matt’s Stearman, ya know, the one that was flown by the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, and flew over Appomattox Court House, ya know, where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant effectively ending the American Civil War and then we headed north so he could turn it over to the National Museum of African American History and Culture to be preserved for all time…just your normal curatorial work day Honey…”

To say that the last three days in the air were, as my kids put it, “ridiculous!” or “sick!”, cannot possible describe the deep emotions, the multiple flashbacks to my previous Air Force piloting life, the liberating freedom of flying in an open-cockpit biplane, or simply the rich thrill of being back in the air again as a pilot after USAF retirement more than a decade ago. I felt like a 25-year-old again. I kid you not! But, from the curatorial side, the past few days have given me a perspective on the experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen during WW II that I previously had only read about, and I am grateful for such an opportunity.

Flying two or three times a day in the unbearable Alabama heat in a heavy canvas (today Nomex) flight suit is more than physically demanding, it requires constant vigilance to hydration, concentration and preparation to ensure safe flight operations and development in the air. Those Airmen that tolerated the heat of the Alabama sun and the pressure of a segregated society are even more remarkable to me now than they were last week. They are true American heroes, each and every one.

Eight hops and 11 flying hours after our departure from Moton Field, Tuskegee, Alabama, Captain Matt Quy (pronounced Kwhy) and I touched down at Andrews AFB where the Stearman will rest for a few days before joining the Smithsonian’s collection on Friday at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The Stearman will be displayed there in the near future until the NMAAHC begins to install its exhibits in preparation for opening on the Mall in 2015.

This is my story of that three day trip–one I will never forget and will always appreciate!

I had arrived in Tuskegee on Saturday evening and met up with Matt “Happy” Quy at the Kellogg Hotel on the grounds of the Tuskegee Institute. Matt had been at Moton Field flying a photo shoot over the Institute. I heard the Stearman fly past and immediately ran out to see it aloft in the same piece of sky that had been its working home more than six decades ago.  That was when I realized that very soon I would be flying in that very plane — flown by young African-American pilots training to fight in a war in the air above Nazi territory — a war where they would fly and fight next to Army Air Forces bombers and their crews but not be permitted to eat in the same tent as those they defended. Matt and those who had been involved in the day’s activities all joined up to enjoy some dinner and music provided by a great band named Desire. An upbeat mood was set for the next day.

 

Tuskegee

History is made as Captain Matt Quy (USAF) pilots his PT-13D above the Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, where it flew as a training plane during 1944 and 45. This image taken from the photo plane.

PT-13D

History is made as Captain Matt Quy (USAF) pilots his PT-13D above the Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, where it flew as a training plane during 1944 and 45. This image taken from the ground.

It was a sweltering Sunday morning— 90 degrees by 8:00 a.m., sunny and humid. It took all of 15 seconds to break into a profuse sweat. My flight suit was soaked before one-half an hour had passed. Matt was baking in the sun completing a few interviews for Smithsonian media and by noon we were ready to “pull the prop” and crank.  Prior to starting the engine, it helps lubrication to pull the propeller through about six times to move the pistons and pump the fluids through the engine making it easier to start it up.

 

Matt Quy

Fleur Paysour, National Museum of African American History and Culture, completes her interview with Matt before the Stearman makes its final departure from Moton Field.

After a few more photos, including the obligatory flight crew and plane shot (also known as the “hero picture”) we strapped in and then Matt cranked up the engine, and it started the very first try — and it did so every time during the trip.

 

PT13-D

Curator Dik Daso, also a retired USAF pilot, and Matt Quy just prior to takeoff from historic Tuskegee, AL.

 

 

After checking the radios and our cockpit intercom, Matt taxied to the active runway for takeoff. The Stearman is a tail dragger and I never quite got used to the two-part takeoff run. After a warm-up and engine instrument check in the hammerhead (the open spot prior to the active runway), Matt moved into position and ran the throttle to full. Although it was incredibly hot, the big fan really kept things cool in the cockpit. The excitement of the takeoff roll made me forget the sweat anyway. It only took about 30 meters (100 feet) before the tail lifted off the runway placing us in a more natural flying position. About 60 meters (200 feet) later we jumped into the air and quickly accelerated to about 100 knots for the climb to our cruising altitude—about 305 meters (1,000 feet) above the ground.

The wind was a combination of the prop and the ambient air blowing by the cockpit. The small windscreen is more than adequate to deflect the oncoming breeze over the front cockpit so that no direct 90-100 knot winds can be felt unless you hang your hand outside of the windscreen frame. I thought that in flight the noise level would be much greater. But with the sound reducing headset, there is only the low-frequency purr of the engine. Even without the headset, the noise is not nearly as loud as I thought it would be. I was comforted by the engine vibration at cruise settings—a constant hum that is as soothing to the crew as a mother’s heartbeat is to an infant. The best way I can think of to describe the sensations while in flight is like this:

Imagine being seated in a 1965 Mustang convertible automobile—sporty, in a classic way. Now imagine that you are driving that car 95 miles per hour with the top down on a gravel road…that’s about how it feels and smells (except for the dust).

 

Dik Daso

The Stearman pilot/instructor sits in the rear cockpit while the passenger/trainee sits up front. Dik and Matt are cruising toward their first destination.

Flight Log:

Sunday, 31 July
Moton Field to Covington Muni, GA 1:47
Covington, GA to Toccoa, GA 1:00
Via Currahee Mountain
Toccoa, GA to Shelby, NC 1:45
Monday, 1 August
Shelby, NC to Blue Ridge Airport, Martinsville, VA 1:43
Martinsville, VA to Orange, VA
Via Appomattox Courthouse 2:00
Tuesday, 2 August
Orange, VA (Local Hop) 0:55
Orange, VA to Manassas, VA 1:00
Manassas, VA to Andrews AFB, MD 0:50


Dik Daso is the curator of modern military aircraft in the Aeronautics Division of the National Air and Space Museum.

 

The Perseids Are Coming!

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on August 4, 2011 in Astronomy, Education and News & Events.
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The Perseids are coming!  The most consistently best meteor shower of the year, the “Perseids,” (PER-see-ids) will reach their peak next week.   The earliest arrivals start around August 7 and the final stragglers show up about two weeks later, but the shower peaks strongly in the August 11-13 timeframe.  At the peak, as many as 60 or more Perseids might be seen in an hour, under favorable observing conditions; in 2011 the observed peak rate should be about half that, due to moonlight.

Meteor showers occur when the Earth encounters a stream of debris shed by a passing comet or asteroid.  The high speed of the material results in a lot of friction, making the debris particles glow brightly, like the filament of an old-fashioned light bulb.   Periodic comet 109P Swift-Tuttle is the source of the material causing the Perseid meteor shower.

Route 66

Route 66. The parallel lines of the road appear to converge on a single vanishing point in the center of the photograph.

Material released along a comet’s orbit is moving in more-or-less parallel paths when the Earth’s atmosphere is encountered.   Artists and drafts-persons are quite familiar with the “vanishing point” perspective created by looking among and along parallel lines.  In the photo below, the road side lines appear to converge on the horizon due to this effect; any objects approaching the observer along those lines would appear to be moving on a radial path with respect to that vanishing point.

A similar case of apparent radial motion arises when the Earth encounters the Swift-Tuttle debris stream every year in mid-August.  The meteors produced appear to radiate from a point in the sky in the constellation Perseus (named for the mythological Greek hero who slew the Gorgon Medusa amongst other exploits).  Meteor showers are named for the constellations in which their radiants reside, hence the upcoming shower is known as the Perseids.

Here is a diagram showing this radial pattern for the Perseids. It can also be seen in the photograph of a Perseid shower below (somewhat distorted by the camera).

 

Perseids

This image shows two composite views taken on the night of Aug. 11, 2010. The image on the left shows a collection of observations taken from 42 single station events over Huntsville, Ala. The image on the right shows a composite view from 39 single station events over Chickamauga, Ga. Courtesy of NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office

The best way to see Perseid meteors is to look at or near the constellation Perseus in the sky, on or near the date Earth encounters the debris stream.  In general, meteor viewing is best in the wee hours of the morning.  Just as your front windshield collects more bugs than the back window, the leading side of the Earth collects more meteors than the trailing side, and from the orbit and rotational orientation of the Earth, that means that the best time for meteors is between local midnight and noon, and, since we want to observe at night, that means between midnight and a couple of hours before morning twilight begins.

Perseus rises above the NE horizon around 9 PM EDT (at Washington, D.C.’s latitude, ~37°).  By midnight, it will be well above the ENE horizon, and will be favorably placed for post-midnight viewing.  Find Perseus by using the Big Dipper.  One can find the North Star by extending a line from the “pointers,” the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl, in the direction the bend in the Dipper’s handle points.  You can find bright star, Capella, by extending a line atop the bowl of the Dipper away from its handle.  Perseus is reached by “splitting the difference” between Polaris and Capella, about the same distance from the Dipper.  Look between Capella and the “W” shape of the constellation Cassiopeia.

Alas, in 2011, the peak viewing time, the night of August 12/13, will also be a time of the August Full Moon (aka “Moon of the Green Corn”).  Moonlight will blank out the fainter Perseids, thereby reducing significantly the number of meteors expected to be visible. For additional observing tips, visit the Sky and Telescope website.

Dr. Steven H. Williams is the chief of education initiatives in the Education Division of the National Air and Space Museum

Good-bye “Beyond the Limits,” Hello “Time and Navigation”

Published by Paul Ceruzzi on August 2, 2011 in Aviation, Exhibitions, History and space.
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We have been reminded that the retirement of the space shuttle is not only the end of an era, it is also the beginning of a new phase of human space exploration, with new launch vehicles, destinations, and technology. I don’t wish to make too much of the comparison, but there is a parallel in the Museum, with the closing of one of its most popular galleries in preparation for a new major exhibition, Time and Navigation, now under construction.

In May, Beyond the Limits: Flight Enters the Computer Age closed after a successful 22-year run on the second floor of the Museum. I was a member of the exhibition team, and I still have vivid memories of how we planned and carried out that exhibit.  Its premise was that a revolution in computers and microelectronics was transforming aerospace as much as the introduction of the jet engine after World War II transformed aviation. But as everyone knows, advances in computing have been as dramatic since 1989 as they had been in the previous decades, so it is not surprising that this gallery was beginning to look out of date. Before it closed, I took one last look to see whether our initial assumption was correct, and how well the exhibit had held up.

 

Wind Tunnel Exhibit

The analysis of the flow of air over a wing was traditionally done with wind tunnels. It is now primarily done with very fast computers, called supercomputers, which create a mathematical model of the air molecules. Supercomputers also model the flow of gases inside a jet or rocket engine, as shown in these photographs. The technique is called "computational fluid dynamics" (CFD).

Beyond the Limits was designed to look at several areas of aerospace that had been affected by computer technology, with a look at how things had been done, and how the computer was changing those practices. The first was aircraft and spacecraft design, which looked at the emerging technique of Computer-Aided-Design and Computer-Assisted-Manufacturing  (CAD/CAM). At the time of the gallery’s opening, CAD was just beginning to replace drafting boards, blueprints, and hand drawings. Since then CAD has completely prevailed: blueprints are now as rare as manual typewriters. The Boeing 777, introduced a few years after the gallery’s opening, was touted as a “paperless” airplane — designed entirely on computers — and its commercial success helped win over any skeptics.  Likewise, numerically-controlled machine tools were still somewhat controversial in the 1980s, especially concerning its impact on skilled labor, but it, too, has prevailed.  The next section, on the use of supercomputers to replace wind tunnels for aerodynamics research, has also been vindicated. Wind tunnels are still in use, but to a much lesser extent, and many of the largest tunnels in the United States have closed or are dormant.  That was a bold prediction in 1989, but it has come true.

 

X-29

The unusual design of the Grumman X-29 fighter, with its forward-swept wings and forward stabilizer, makes the airplane exceedingly unstable but tremendously agile. To maintain stability, the pilot must rely on three onboard computers, which assess and adjust the airplane's control surfaces 40 times a second. Two X-29s were built; this one is a full-scale model.

A section on “fly-by-wire”: the use of on-board computers to control aircraft that otherwise would be unflyable by a human pilot, was illustrated by a full-scale model of the X-29 research aircraft. The concept originated with the Apollo landings on the Moon two decades earlier, where the Lunar Module had to have computer control to allow it to land safely. Fly-by-wire is also now common in most new military and commercial aircraft. The X-29’s unusual forward-swept wing configuration, however, seems to have been a dead-end, save for a few recent unmanned-aerial-vehicles.

And that leads to what we missed when we did that gallery. The first was stealth. The X-29 was a wonderful aircraft, but it was hardly a stealthy configuration. We failed to see how the use of fly-by-wire, coupled with computer simulations of different designs, could lead to aircraft that were inherently unstable but also had fewer control surfaces that would reflect radar. Stealth technology was well underway by the 1980s, but it was still a well-kept secret. By the time we learned of it, the gallery was already under construction.

The second was the Global Positioning System (GPS). Early in the planning stages for Beyond the Limits, I was given a video cassette by an aerospace employee, who asked if I might consider showing it. The tape was called “NAVSTAR Crosses the Atlantic,” and it was about a small jet that flew from the United States to Europe with only satellites to assist with its navigation. At that time, the system was still called by its earlier name “NAVSTAR,” and only a few of the planned 24 satellites were in orbit—just enough to make a transatlantic flight possible. I turned the offer down. I simply did not see what was so significant about satellite positioning.

In the spring of 2013, Museum will open a gallery devoted to Time and Navigation, with a major portion devoted to the origins, operation, and effects of GPS.  The other areas of aerospace continue to be affected by the relentless progress in computers and microelectronics, but the rise of satellite navigation, especially when coupled with cell phones and other so-called “smart” devices on the ground, have been startling — and unforeseen, at least by some of us two decades ago. As one of the members of the Time and Navigation team said, fixing a position with a sextant, or using radio devices like LORAN, can tell you where you are with good accuracy, but they cannot tell you where the nearest sushi restaurant is, or whether any of your friends are hanging out there. Beyond the Limits has closed, but the Museum has not abandoned its commitment to keep abreast of new developments in aerospace, wherever they may take us.

Paul Ceruzzi is the Chair of the Space History Division at the National Air and Space Museum.

Tuskegee Bird Flies North

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on July 30, 2011 in Aviation, Behind The Scenes and News & Events.
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During the past two years, it has been my privilege to work closely with the curatorial staff of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to locate an aircraft with a lineage tied directly to the Tuskegee Airmen. We were fortunate enough to accomplish the mission that will culminate in the acquisition of a PT-13 Stearman that flew at Moton Field, Alabama, during WW II—the home of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Most remarkable and amazing has been my opportunity to get to know the young couple that has restored the aircraft to flying condition and flown it to dozens of airshows around the country telling the Tuskegee Airmen’s story.

 

PT-13

Pilot Matt "Happy" Quy pilots this PT-13 Stearman during a recent airshow that included the Blue Angels.

This coming Sunday, 31 July, the pilot-owner Captain Matt “Happy” Quy (USAF) and the NMAAHC team will meet up at historic Moton Field near present day Tuskegee University to begin the final leg of a journey into American history. Matt has asked me to fly with him on this historic last leg of a journey that began for this Stearman way back in the early 1940s. As a retired U.S. Air Force pilot myself, I could not turn down such an adventure. While somewhat limited in “tweeting” skill, I will be sending updates and flight experiences into the tweet-o-sphere throughout the flight that is scheduled to arrive in the greater DC area sometime next Tuesday.

Check out #PT13 to keep pace with Matt and me as we slip some surly bonds of Earth in the skies above the eastern US this weekend.

 

PT-13 and P-51

The PT-13 Spirit of Tuskegee flying in formation with a vintage P-51 Mustang.

Dik Daso is a curator in the Aeronautics Division of the National Air and Space Museum.

Astronomy Night at the Museum

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on July 28, 2011 in Astronomy, Education and space.
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The night opened with few clouds and a bright waxing gibbous moon. Alex and I, interns at the National Air and Space Museum, stood outside with Sean O’Brien, astronomy educator at the Museum and Albert Einstein Planetarium technician, to survey the sky and anticipate the night. This was my first star party at the Museum.

As we set up, the first line of visitors formed outside the door of the Public Observatory waiting for 6 p.m. — opening time. We set up the Tele Vue telescope first. The view was spectacular. Along the terminator, the line between the dark and light sides of the Moon, craters popped between the stark white of the moon and the blue of the sky.

 

Moon

The Moon at 10:50am, April 25, 2011 taken by Katie Moore an Astronomy Educator at National Air and Space Museum using the Tele Vue-85 telescope and Lumenera 2-2 camera.

At 6 p.m., visitors stepped up to take their first close-up look at the Moon in the Tele Vue with Sean’s guidance. Children jumped up and down with excitement while parents assured them that if they study hard they’ll get to work on things like these too. Heads poked through the doorway of the observatory. Many folks were curious about what they would find inside so Alex began to show them around. Solar observing is our main practice during the daylight hours, Wednesday through Saturday. It isn’t often that you have access to equipment that makes it safe to look at the Sun, but we’ve got it!

 

Sun

The Sun taken January 19, 2011 by Erin Braswell, using the 100mm Lunt Hydrogen-alpha telescope in the Public Observatory.

Alex went over the Museum’s Solar observation methods and displayed pictures the observatory has taken of the Sun. The clouds played with us all throughout the night by jumping around and in front of our targets. Often I would ask the crowd to blow in the same direction with me so perhaps we could get those pesky clouds to move just a bit. Still, it did not dampen the spirit of everyone that waited.

Noah, another Museum intern, arrived and we set up the Celestron C-11 telescope on the Moon. The line split into three. One to hear Alex speak about Solar observing, one to look at the Moon through the Tele Vue, and one to look through the 11-inch Celestron that Noah manned. I ran from telescope to telescope making sure each had a target and each was in focus.  Occasionally we would exchange eyepieces to see if we could get a better view.

As the Sun set we began to keep an eye out for Saturn. Then the clouds split and Saturn shined out! I ran into the observatory ready to switch the 16” Boller & Chivens (B&C) telescope from close-ups of the now dark Moon craters to the bright point of the ringed planet. After a bit of searching the planet swam into view and the beauty of the rings and moons was thrilling. Quickly, Alex and I passed the update down the line and cheering floated in through the observatory door. Alex and Rick, a Museum volunteer, took over inside the observatory to help visitors see what they had been waiting for since we opened.

 

Observatory

Lines curled around the side of the building as many excited visitors waited to see Saturn, the Moon, and even Albireo. Photo by Ameé J. Salois.

Next I went to check on Noah and the Celestron telescope. After some minutes and some growling at the clouds we had Saturn in our view as well. This line cheered as well and people filed past excitedly bouncing in front of the eyepiece the minute they glimpsed the beauty of the rings. One fellow told me that tonight he came to have his first view of the iconic planet and he didn’t mind waiting the whole night to fulfill his dream. Later, he told me that he wasn’t disappointed. The night ended with a search for Albireo, a binary star iconic because of its bright blue and gold coloring.

 

Albireo

Albireo. Photo by Rachel Wilkerson and Ameé J. Salois taken on the 36” telescope at the McDonald Observatory.

Sean began looking through the Tele Vue and called me over to help. After some quick searching I had it in my sight! Sean tightened the telescope mount and we centered and focused the image. Next, we changed the eyepiece, but when I pushed it in the mount jerked and the stars were lost. The search began again! This time was successful and the last visitors were pleased to see the bright sparkling of such a unique binary star.

Finally, we said goodnight and the visitors wandered away still looking up and wondering about what else was hidden in that dark sky. We had more than 300 visitors and they looked through the telescopes more than 870 times. It was a thrilling night with many telescope adventures and many new experiences.

Joe DePasquale of Chandra and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) visited with us and put together a fabulous video summation of our adventures.

Ameé Salois is an astronomy education intern for the National Air and Space Museum this summer.

Curiosity Landing Site

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on July 22, 2011 in Planetary Science, Research and space.
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Here is a riddle: What takes more than 60 locations, 5 years, and 150 scientists to decide? The landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity. Picking the landing site for a spacecraft to land on another planet is always serious business. And the job of finding the best location for Curiosity to set down on Mars was no exception.

Curiosity’s mission is geared towards understanding whether Mars could have ever been habitable. And recent data from NASA’s orbiting spacecraft (Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter) and the Mars Exploration Rovers suggests the planet has had a long and complicated history of changing environmental conditions and landscapes. Combine that with the fact that the landing site could be anywhere between 30 degrees north and south of the equator and below an elevation of 0 kilometers (relative to the Martian datum) and there is a lot of territory to consider.

 

Curiosity Landing Site

This map of Mars shows all of the landing sites proposed for the Mars Science Laboratory (red dots) and the four final candidate sites (blue dots). From the four final sites of Eberswalde crater, Gale crater, Holden crater, and Mawrth Vallis, Gale eventually was selected as the landing site. The white shaded areas are more than 30 degrees north and south of the equator and off limits to MSL because of seasonally harsh (cold) conditions expected there. The black areas are above 0 kilometer in elevation and too high to be considered for landing.

The vast majority of the sites proposed for consideration (Figure 1) were within the general bounds outlined above and many possess attributes making them attractive as possible landing sites. Moreover, the design of the rover enables consideration of a variety of sites. So science merit became the major discriminator of which site would eventually win out.

Over a series of workshops, the science community and MSL science team came together to discuss and evaluate the various proposed sites. The diverse expertise represented at the workshop coupled with ample discussion time ensured each site got a good look. As the process went along, more and more sites were dropped from consideration as potential issues were identified. Finally, four sites remained, all of which were deemed satisfactory for MSL and each with a substantial group of science advocates. These four sites include a relict river delta in Eberswalde crater, a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) thick section of layered rocks in Gale crater, ancient alluvial and possible lake beds in Holden crater, and ancient sequence of clay-bearing rocks near Mawrth Vallis (Figure 2). The four sites became the focus of intense study and discussion at the final two workshops, with efforts geared towards understanding how the rocks in and near the sites were emplaced and whether they might be accessible to Curiosity once on the ground. As data related to the sites poured in and evaluations went on, the four final sites have become arguably the best imaged and studied locations on the surface of Mars. In the end, there was no “smoking gun” that was found to rule out any of the four final candidate sites and the community reiterated their satisfaction with any one of them. Much more information about each of the proposed landing sites can be found on Marsoweb.

 

Curiosity Landing Site

Summaries of each of the final four candidate landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory. The left column shows the regional context of each of the four sites (labeled on the left and discussed above) with colors representing the elevation of the land surface (purple lowest and red highest). The middle column shows examples of high priority science targets for exploration near the ellipse (yellow box in left column shows the location of each) and the right column shows science targets within each target landing ellipse (white box in left column shows the location of each). At Eberswalde crater, Curiosity would land on the crater floor and probe ancient river and possible lake beds on the way to a large delta on the western wall of the crater. At Gale crater, the site chosen as the landing site for Curiosity, landing will occur on an alluvial fan near the northern wall of the crater and the rover will than traverse to a thick stack of layered rocks to the south. At Holden crater, landing would take place on broad alluvial fans flanking the western wall of the crater and the rover would traverse down to underlying and finely layered rocks that may have been deposited in a lake. At Mawrth Vallis, landing would occur directly on a layered sequence of clay-bearing rocks that extend regionally across the surface. The images comprising the panels in the middle and right columns are from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The scale bars in each panel indicate distance in kilometers.

The Curiosity science team then met and considered all of the information related to the sites. Both science potential and risks to rover landing and traversing were considered. In the end, Gale crater was selected as the landing site because the thick section of rocks (Figure 2) was deemed likely to enable study of changing conditions on Mars over a time when the abundance and duration of water on the surface was decreasing over time. As water is an important factor in evaluating potential habitability, the chance to access the rocks that record the changes from relatively wetter to drier present an opportunity to learn a great deal about Mars as a planet and its potential to support life.

Curiosity lifts off towards the Red Planet late in 2011 and will arrive at Mars in mid-2012. In the days and months leading up to landing at Gale crater, the MSL science team will continue to pore over existing and new images to plan the best path towards rocks they feel hold the clues to understanding Mars’ habitability. Once on Mars and on the move, Curiosity will provide images and information from its science payload of instruments that will enable all of us to follow along in the excitement of exploration and learn more about how one of our neighboring planets evolved over time.

John Grant is a geologist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum and served as the co-chair of the Mars Landing Site steering committee for the Mars Science Laboratory.