spacecraft. This is one of the few "production" models in the 

 collection, and teptesents achievements in space communica- 

 tions and applications fot the public. 



The Aeronautics Division produced a Collections Rationale 

 (August 1998), which contains essays that relate to seven 

 categories of aircraft, including helicopters and iighter-than- 

 ait craft and ten categories of non-aitcraft artifacts in the col- 

 lection. These essays set forth the tacionale for collecting 

 specific aircraft or classes of objects within each category, 

 based on their significance. 



Members of the Division worked collectively to produce 

 the most recent edition of the Aircraft of the National Air and 

 Space Museum, published by Smithsonian Institution Press and 

 edited by curator Robert van der Linden. 



Martin Collins of the Space History Division earned his 

 Ph.D. degree in history from the University of Maryland. His 

 dissertation was titled, Planning for Modem War: RAND and 

 the Air force: 1945-1950. John Anderson of the Aeronautics 

 Division published A History of Aerodynamics and Its Impact on 

 F lying Machines with Cambridge University Press. Von D. 

 Hardesty of the Aeronautics Division continued to act as 

 editor of the Smithsonian History of Aviation Series, publish- 

 ed by Smithsonian Institution Press. Among the titles pub- 

 lished during the year were Space and the American Imagination 

 by Howard McCurdy, and Eye in the Sky: The Story of the 

 Corona Satellites, edited by Dwayne Day. 



With the aid of satellites, scientists in the Center for Earth 

 and Planetary Srudies continued their research on Earth and 

 other planets. In August, Mark Bulmer, Andy Johnston, and 

 Fred Engle made the second extensive field trip to the Saban- 

 caya volcano in Peru, and used Landsat, Spot, and Radarsat 

 data to determine the likely paths of rock slides caused by fu- 

 ture volcanic eruptions. Such rock slides are similar to those 

 found on Venus and Mars because of the dry soil types, which 

 led to this research project. 



Bruce Campbell of CEPS and co-workers have been study- 

 ing surface properties of Venus using both fractal models of 

 planetary roughness, as well as the polarization properties of 

 Magellan radar, finding that the electrical properties of the 

 Venusian surface materials vary with elevation. 



Ted Maxwell and Andy Johnston continued work in 

 southern Egypt, surveying an area ro determine the depth of 

 penetration of orbital radar through the dry sand, and dis- 

 covering an ancient drainage network beneath the sand 

 through the use of Space Shuttle radar data. 



The National Air and Space Archives made two major addi- 

 tions to its collections. The Edgar Mix Glass Plare 

 Stereograph Collection consists of 38 cases of glass slides taken 

 by Edgar Mix, an internationally renowned early balloonist 

 and the second American to win the Gordon Bennett Balloon 

 Race. The slides reflect aeronautical themes, including both 

 lighter- and heavier-than-air subjects from the early 1900s and 

 various aeronautical events taking place near Paris during 

 1910-1911. The Malcolm D. Ross Collection contains 

 photographs, handwritten notes, correspondence, medical 



flight records, reports, and articles relating to Ross's involve- 

 ment with Project Skyhook and his initiation of the Strato-lab 

 program for upper atmosphere research. 



Exhibitions and Public Service 



In March, the museum's annual "Mutual Concerns of Air and 

 Space Museums" seminar, cohosted by the American Associa- 

 tion of Museums, brought more than 130 Air and Space 

 museum directors, curators, and other staff together for three 

 days of trading ideas and information concerning our 

 museums. 



The Aeronautics Division continued its participation in the 

 Curator's Choice lecture program. Curaror's Choice is 

 designed ro spotlight significant artifacts in the collection 

 with a brief weekly lecture, most often given by the curaror of 

 the object to visitors to the National Air and Space Museum. 

 Among the Aeronautics Division lecturers for this period 

 were Robert van der Linden (the X-i: the first aircraft to 

 break the sound barrier), Dominick Pisano (the Fokker 

 D.VII), Ron Davies (the Fotd Trimotor), Alex Spencer (Wiley- 

 Post's pressure suit). 



Robert van der Linden of the Aeronautics Division con- 

 tinued to administer rhe General Aviation Lecture Series and 

 the annual Lindbergh Lecture. Some of the fearured speakers 

 during the year were David Lee "Tex" Hill ("The Flying 

 Tigers"), Colonel Gail S. Haivorsen ("The Berlin Candy 

 Bomber, Operation Vittles, and the Cold War"), and Richard 

 King (The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome"). The Lindbergh Lec- 

 ture was given by William H. Dana ("On the Fringes of 

 Space: The X-15 and the Lifting Bodies"). 



Five new exhibitions opened at the Museum between Oc- 

 tober 1997 and September 1998. "Star Wars: The Magic of 

 Myth," which opened in October 1997, examined the mythol- 

 ogy beneath the Star Wars story and how the age-old tale of 

 the "hero's journey" is brought to life in the film trilogy. This 

 temporary exhibition proved enormously popular. In Novem- 

 ber rhe Venus section of "Exploring the Planets" was updated 

 to include recent images of the surface of Venus. In December 

 "The National Transportation Safety Board" opened. This 

 temporary exhibition examined the role of the NTSB in inves- 

 tigating aviation accidents and fostering transportation safety. 



"Business Wings," a temporary exhibit on business avia- 

 tion, opened on June 10, 1998. Curator for the exhibition was 

 Dorothy Cochrane of the Aeronautics Division. "Business 

 Wings" explored the role of aircraft are used in the business 

 community and showed the different ways that aircraft in 

 their day-to-day operations. The exhibition was made possible 

 through the support of the National Business Aviation Associ- 

 ation and features two significant business aitcraft, the Beech 

 King Air Model 90 and the Cessna Citation 500. 



In July "Earth Today: A Digital View of Our Dynamic 

 Planet," was added to the newly renovated entrance area of the 

 Rocketry and Space Flight gallery. The core of this exhibit is a 

 theater that displays a computer-generated, rotating image 

 of the Earth more than a meter across, on which is shown, in 



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