The flagship building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. exhibits aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, rockets, and other flight-related artifacts. Visitors can launch into the history of flight by surrounding themselves with icons of air and space travel including the first airplane, the spacesuit worn by the first person to walk on the Moon, and much more.
We were awarded the contract to describe eight newly-opened galleries at the National Air & Space Museum:
- Early Flight
- America by Air
- Destination Moon
- Nation of Speed
- The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age
- Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery
- Thomas W. Haas We All Fly, and
- One World Connected
Contact us to explore Museum Audio Description for your next project.
Here are some samples of our narratives on this project:
ISS Cupola
Moving forward around a short wall, a recreation of the ISS cupola, shaped like the actual window, is built into the wall. There are handles on either side of all six side windows. Moving forward into the nearly five foot tall by 10 foot wide cupola (1.43 by three meters), visitors can immerse themselves in the environment and sounds of the ISS cupola.
Columbia Command Module
Continuing toward the back wall, about 10 feet (three meters) beyond the spacesuit, the original Columbia Command Module stands propped up at an angle inside a large, six-sided glass case. The cone-shaped module is made of aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium. It stands nearly nine feet tall (2.72 meters) and almost 13 feet in diameter (3.91 meters), and weighs 9,130 pounds.
Marie Curie Rover
The Marie Curie rover, the flight spare for the first successful Mars rover, Sojourner, appears like a shiny, metal box with a flat, rectangular solar panel top, and six, five inch diameter aluminum wheels with serrated, stainless steel tracks. It stands about a foot high, 18 inches wide, and just over two and a half feet long.
Wright 1903 Flyer
The wood frame aircraft has muslin-covered wings braced with wires. In the front of the aircraft is a set of two smaller horizontal fabric wings, one above the other, held apart by wooden struts. In the center, a horizontal engine drives two large wooden propellers at the back using a sprocket and chain system similar to a bicycle. The Flyer stands nine feet four inches tall by 21 feet long (2.8 by 6.4 meters), and has a 40 foot (12.3 meter) wingspan. The aircraft weighs 605 pounds (274 kilograms).
Contact us to explore Museum Audio Description for your next project.