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MUSEUM NEWS
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Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Turns 15
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Our Udvar-Hazy Center will celebrate 15 years of operation on December 15. Since opening, it has become a must-see destination and one of nation’s most popular museums, with nearly 20 million people having visited the center. We will celebrate this milestone with a celebration on December 15 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The event will include musical
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performances by the Loudoun Jazz Ensemble, talks by museum experts, and book signings. Museum staff will talk about some of the center’s most iconic aircraft and spacecraft, and activities and story times for children will take place throughout the building. Parking will be free all day, thanks to a generous gift from Steven and Carrie VanRoekel. Learn more.
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Celebrating the Spirit of Apollo
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We will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, the first flight to the Moon, with a special event at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, December 11, at 8:00 pm. The cathedral is the site of some of the country’s most important commemorations of the American space program. Speakers, including Apollo 8 astronaut James A. Lovell and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Michael B. Curry, will explore the spiritual meaning of exploration and the unity created by the mission’s Christmas Eve broadcast and iconic Earthrise photo. This program is made possible by the generous support of Boeing. Tickets for this program are sold out, but you can watch it online on our website or Facebook Live. Learn more.
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DO YOU KNOW?
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Spoiler Alert: One of the Answers is in the Question
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What instruments did Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford use to play Jingle Bells on Gemini VI? Answer |
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TOP STORY
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This Fall, a very special group toured our Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia—veterans and Holocaust survivors on a trip to see the monuments, memorials, and museums built in their honor. These men and women, who served in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, explored the museum under the guidance of docent Jack Bell, himself a WWII veteran. Read more about this powerful visit.
This month on the blog, we also learned how astronauts vote from space, took a closer look at WWI collections in our Archives, and tested our knowledge about geography captured from satellites.
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SUPPORT THE MUSEUM
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Your Year-End Gift Will Go Twice As Far
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Between now and midnight, December 31, our Board will match your gift to the museum, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000. With this generous matching gift opportunity, your contribution will go twice as far to help us preserve and share treasured artifacts that chart the history of flight, through the air and into space. Support the National Air and Space Museum
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THIS MONTH IN HISTORY
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A Trip ‘Round the Moon
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On December 21, 1968, Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell launched on Apollo 8, the first human mission to the Moon. An important step on the path to Apollo 11, Apollo 8 tested the flight trajectory and operations for getting to the Moon and back. Reaching lunar orbit on Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8 is known for the crew’s Christmas Eve broadcast and the iconic Earthrise photo. We’re celebrating the Spirit of Apollo 8 with a special event featuring Jim Lovell in December 11. You can watch it live on our website or Facebook.
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ON VIDEO
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Gene Kranz on the Apollo 11 Landing
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Apollo program flight director and all-around aerospace legend Eugene Kranz was at the Museum last month to talk to members of the National Air and Space Society about the Apollo 11 landing. He even narrated the last fifteen minutes of Eagle’s descent to the lunar surface. Watch a recording of his talk.
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INSIGHT
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Late last month, NASA’s InSight lander touched down on Mars -- the first spacecraft to land on Mars since the Curiosity rover six years ago and only the eighth spacecraft ever to do so. InSight’s mission is to drill into the Red Planet to discover what’s beneath the surface.
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No matter how you like to consume knowledge, we’ve got you covered:
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POLL
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Our Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center turns 15 this month. To celebrate, we discovered which five Udvar-Hazy Center artifacts are viewed most on our website. Which is your favorite?
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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At the Museum in DC
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Holiday Family Day
Saturday, December 8, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
This program is made possible by the generous support of Northrop Grumman.
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At the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia
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At Washington National Cathedral and Online
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The Spirit of Apollo
Featuring: Capt. Jim Lovell, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Museum director Ellen Stofan, and NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine
Tuesday, December 11 at 8:00 pm
Tickets for this program are sold out. Watch the program via live webcast.
This program is made possible by the generous support of Boeing.
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PARTING SHOTS
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A Literal Birds-Eye View
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Eyes in the Sky
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For the past 160 years, photographers have been on a mission to take photos from above, and they tested cameras on a multitude of gravity-defying objects. In 1907, a German apothecary named Julius Neubronner got a “birds-eye view” of German streets by turning to just that, birds. He attempted to patent his new pigeon camera, which included an aluminum harness and a lightweight time-delayed camera. So now we have this gem: A picture of a pigeon, poised to take a picture. More on early aerial photography.
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Thanks to a little invention called the airplane, aerial photography quickly became more sophisticated than strapping cameras to pigeons. Aerial cameras on the de Havilland DH-4 could be hand-held or mounted inside or outside the cockpit. The de Havilland that was on display in our Looking at Earth gallery, pictured above, contains a Kodak L-4 camera positioned within the cockpit to take photographs through a small window in the floor. Learn more.
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