At Home in Space opens at the National Air and Space Museum
The Smithsonian’s new gallery on living and working in orbit opened Oct. 30, with the museum’s renovation set to conclude after one more gallery opens.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
2 min read
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum opened its “At Home in Space” gallery in Washington on Oct. 30. The at home in space opening brings a new account of long-duration human spaceflight to the museum, while the wider renovation is due to conclude when “Modern Military Aviation” opens Nov. 11, according to the Smithsonian.
The two galleries are the last openings in a transformation that began in 2018, the museum said in an Oct. 22 announcement. The Smithsonian described the work as a multiyear effort to remake exhibitions and update the building’s infrastructure and visitor experience.
What is inside the At Home in Space gallery?
The exhibition follows more than 50 years of efforts to let people live and work continuously in space and to travel beyond Earth orbit, according to Ars Technica. Jennifer Levasseur, the gallery’s curator, said its story moves through the preparations for extended missions, the space shuttle era, the International Space Station and the next stages of human spaceflight.
Visitors can enter a full-size mock-up of Destiny, the International Space Station’s U.S. national laboratory, Ars Technica reported. The module installation includes interactive features and items connected with crew life, including coffee cups designed for microgravity.
Other objects on display include a space shuttle main engine, the Robonaut 1A humanoid-robot prototype and a flown extravehicular mobility unit, or EMU, spacesuit. Levasseur told Ars Technica that the suit’s portable life-support backpack is a shell rather than an operating unit because the working backpacks remain in use.
- Flight clothing worn on separate shuttle missions by Guion “Guy” Bluford and Sally Ride, identified in the report as the first African American astronaut and the first U.S. woman, respectively.
- Recovered components from the Challenger and Columbia shuttle losses, including a Challenger elevon hinge and wiring fragment, and a reinforced carbon-carbon panel from Columbia’s starboard wing.
- A compact disc on long-term loan from the family of astronaut David Brown, according to Ars Technica.
When will the museum renovation be finished?
“At Home in Space” is one of the final two redesigned galleries, rather than the project’s final opening. The Smithsonian said “Modern Military Aviation” is scheduled to open Nov. 11, completing the museum’s renovation program.
The gallery focuses on the practical challenges and benefits of maintaining a permanent human presence in low Earth orbit, according to the Smithsonian. Its artifacts and Destiny-module walk-through place that story alongside the equipment astronauts have used to work, conduct spacewalks and live aboard orbital stations.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.