A Visit To Air And Space Museum

I have been studying space, galaxies, the solar system, and plants for a long time. I often read about and see pictures and videos of spaceships, rockets, spacesuits, and satellites. This week, I saw some of them for real. My grandmother booked tickets to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. She told me that I was going to see real-space things there. As we walked to the museum, it started raining. Perfect time to get inside! The first thing to do was to get a wheelchair for my grandmother. The inside of the National Air and Space Museum was huge. Wow! 

There were many aeroplanes, and they were real! There were aeroplanes hanging all around me from the ceiling; they were on the walls and on the floor. Some of them were even upside down! The roof was covered with planes and satellites, and they were so cool. Some were smaller single-person crafts; others were larger; and there was even an Airbus. 

We looked at huge Rolls-Royce engines and turbines. We could see the insides and how they were structured. We went inside an airplane. The pilot’s cabin was see-through; the many control buttons and handles looked so confusing. The long seats for the passengers did not look too comfortable.

 There were parachutes and hot-air balloons. We then went to the floor reserved for space travel. The rear engine nozzles and rear reaction control engines of rockets were hanging from the ceiling. We saw the top where the astronauts sat as they re-entered the earth’s atmosphere and landed in the ocean. They looked very small and uncomfortable. There were models of the planets hanging from the ceiling, including some of their moons. Jupiter had so many. There were space rock textures that I could touch and feel.

There were two huge screens with several interesting documentaries playing. One screen showed a documentary on the individual probes that went past Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, the moon, and even the sun and how they documented them. There was an amphitheatre where we could sit on the floor and watch what rovers could see on the surface of other planets as they explored. We were able to see the actual rovers as well. I saw a spacecraft on which a chimpanzee went into space.

On display was also technology, such as cameras and spacesuits, that were used in space. There were big and small cameras with different systems and lenses. I was carrying my Canon 800D and using a fisheye 10mm lens, so I was particularly interested in this part of the museum. I enjoyed learning how images were taken and sent back to earth. I really learned a lot. If you do travel to Washington, DC, I recommend that you visit the museum as well.

(Vidheha studies in grade 5 at Etta J. Wilson Elementary.)