Objects Are Smaller Than They Appear On TV

As I stood next to the Space Shuttle, I was amazed at how much smaller it was than I had imagined. It is definitely a large object, but not as large as the airliner that took me to Atlanta a few months ago. The Concorde I walked past, however, was larger than I thought it would be; although its windows were very small.

I just returned from my first visit to the Smithsonian’s relatively new addition, the Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. This gigantic airplane hanger next to Dulles Airport houses every size flying machine from a hang glider to the Concorde. A visitor can get close enough to the Shuttle Enterprise to see the infamous tiles but no one is allowed inside this or any of the other aircraft. For a flight geek like me, gawking is still a thrill.

The big names of the aircraft industry are well-represented here, with some of their largest products on display. There is a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, a 367-80 (a prototype of the 707) and their most famous plane, a B-29 called the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima).

One of the longest planes I’ve ever seen is here, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest jet in the world. The placard says this plane set a speed record of more than 2100 mph on its last flight. It flew from Los Angeles to Washington DC in 1 hour and 5 minutes. I live less than 50 miles from DC and I can’t even drive there in 65 minutes.

Another size surprise was the Gemini VII space capsule. How did two men fit into that thing? Gemini VII was a 14-day orbital flight in 1965 during which astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell tested the effects of weightlessness on humans in preparation for the eventual moon flights. For two weeks, these guys sat in seats similar in size and shape to that of a Porsche. In fact, the whole capsule is smaller than a VW Jetta. I suspect they tested the effects of claustrophobia too. This spacecraft used to hang from the ceiling in the original Air & Space Museum building in downtown DC. Now it sits on the floor at the Udvar-Hazy Center. The reality of its size is more obvious when you can stand five feet from the capsule and look through the windows at the seats.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I like the hardware of flight, from the Wright Flyer to the Space Shuttle. Both of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museums are jam packed with the right stuff.