Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

The museum’s flagship galleries include the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis, and the Apollo 11 command module Columbia — the capsule that carried Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins on the first lunar landing mission in July 1969. Many of the aircraft and spacecraft on display are the original vehicles rather than replicas.

Exhibits cover military aviation from World War I through the jet age, the Cold War space race between the United States and Soviet Union, rocketry, and the development of commercial air travel. The museum’s location directly on the Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument makes it one of the most visited institutions in the world.