WTOP: That means making sure everyone can see themselves in their stories.
“You’ll see stories, certainly, of Chuck Yeager,” the first person to go faster than the speed of sound, Browne said. But they’re also displaying the T-38 flown by Jackie Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier. “When she died, she held more records than any man alive,” Browne said. “We’re amplifying the story.”
The human journey through space, including trips to the moon, are also well represented. There’s lunar capsules, rovers, and even giant F1 rocket engines you can stand under (before you could just stand next to them), giving you a new perspective of the ingenuity and effort needed to leave the earth’s atmosphere.
The Mars-themed café in the museum’s basement.
Photo: A United States Air Force fighter jet suspended at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. (WTOP/John Domen)
