View of the lunar landing module on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum located in Washington, DC.

There is no doubt among teachers that experience is one of the best ways to learn, and most educators would agree that a visit to a museum is a terrific learning experience. One of the most exciting museums for students to visit is Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum located in Washington, DC.

One of the most spectacular displays at the museum, in my opinion, is the lunar landing module. This spacecraft, frankly pretty fragile in appearance, was designed to carry astronauts David Scott and James Irwin on their Apollo 15 mission to the moon. However, NASA decided that Apollo 15 and subsequent flights would be outfitted with lunar roving vehicles, so this module was replaced with the Lunar Rover.

Also on display is a replica of a lunar space suit and a model of the Telstar satellite. Of special interest is an actual moon rock, that your students are allowed to touch! And for Star Trek fans, Paramount Studios’ filming model of the starship USS Enterprise is grandly on display.

Personally, I have always been a fan of planetariums, and this museum is host to a fine one: the Albert Einstein Planetarium. For a small fee, we enjoyed a half-hour show entitled Journey to the Stars. We were treated to extraordinary images and physics-based simulations that helped us understand our universe better. And students will love that the presentation is narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.

In addition to these space-related artifacts, the museum boasts wonderful exhibits documenting the history of air travel. Included are Charles Lindbergh’s plane The Spirit of St. Louis; Wilbur and Orville Wright’s 1903 Wright Plane; the Lockheed Vega piloted by flying ace Amelia Earhart; and a 25-foot model of the dirigible Hindenburg. I especially appreciated “Black Wings,” an exhibit about the contributions of African Americans to aviation.

You and your students would definitely find a visit to this Smithsonian museum an invaluable learning experience. However, if you are unable to travel to Washington, DC, the exhibits can be explored online at this link: Air and Space Museum.

Happy traveling!