S M I T H S O N I A N   I N S T I T U T I O N
N A T I O N A L   A I R   &   S P A C E   M U S E U M

Washington D.C.

Overhead I see M2-F3, a lifing body aircraft that demonstrated the ability to re-enter the Earth from space flight and helped to test the technology necessary for future aircraft to fly at hypersonic speeds.

The gallery has an exhibit featuring Skylab, America's first space station. This model gives me a good idea of what the ship looked like in its entirety.

Just over yonder is a full-scale mockup of the primary components of Skylab. I take a little tour, basically walking through the middle section of the space station. Everything is protected with plexiglass, so most shots are overexposed from the flashback of the flash and have to be discarded. I guess they want me to buy the picture book in the gift shop, sneaky marketing strategy me thinks.

Here's what the spacecraft looked like in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. A joint space venture between USA and USSR, in 1975 the two countries made history by docking an American Apollo spacecraft with a Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecraft.

Regardless of the time or place, everybody wonders about the age old question of bathroom etiquette, "How do they do it?" Kudos to the Smithsonian Institution, they didn't turn a blind eye to that embarrassing question. No, they jumped right in with a splash and enthusiastically offer up this interesting exhibit.