46 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 2000 



completed a successful test of its new database software and 

 began transferring data into the new system. These transfers 

 will continue in FY 2001. The major collections processing 

 project completed was the Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection 

 (72 cubic feet). This collection documents the accomplish- 

 ments of an Italian immigrant who designed and built many 

 of the important aircraft of the pre- World War II era. The 

 Archives also completed the first 10 percent of a major effort 

 to move its extensive photographs and technical drawings 

 databases from a DOS-based system to a new Windows envi- 

 ronment, a first step toward making museum's archival 

 records available through the Institutions SIRIS system. 

 This system now includes 1,491 records with narrative de- 

 scriptions of the artifacts, as well as images and information 

 about their origins, dimensions, and material composition. 

 The staff again responded to a large volume of reference 

 requests that varied greatly in their scope. These requests 

 supported restoration and modeling projects as well as other 

 historical research efforts, such as books and videos. 



Exhibitions and Public Service 



In fiscal year 2000 substantial progress was made on the Ex- 

 ploring the Universe gallery, including completion of the 

 label script. Explore the Universe, which will open in Sep- 

 tember 2001, will examine mankind's changing ideas about 

 the universe, its origins, and its ultimate fate. Two large in- 

 coming loans for objects for the exhibition were completed: 

 the Newtonian Cage came from the Mount Wilson Observa- 

 tory and the back-up Hubble Space Telescope mirror came 

 from Kodak. 



"R. G. Smith: The 'Old Master' of the Sky," a temporary 

 exhibition featuring 25 paintings by one of the finest avia- 

 tion artists and curated by senior aeronautics curator Tom 

 Crouch, went on display in March 2000 on rhe second-floor 

 hallway. Joanne London was the curator for "Looping the 

 Loop: Posters of Early Flight," a SITES exhibition that in 

 addition to being on display at the National Air and Space 

 Museum from April ro July, has traveled to the Thames 

 Science Center in Newport, Rhode Island. The model of the 

 starship U.S.S. Enterprise used in the original "Star Trek" TV 

 series was installed in the newly renovated museum shop, 

 along with a scale model of a Boeing 747 airliner and a Pitts 

 Special S-iS aerobatic airplane. A scaled-down version of 

 "Business Wings," a temporary exhibition that was dis- 

 played in the Museum's West End gallery, was added to the 

 Air Transportation gallery. Several flight simulator rides 

 were installed in a vacant gallery, in order to test the tech- 

 nology for inclusion at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. 



In March 2000, the museum cosponsored (with the Amer- 

 ican Association of Museums), the annual Mutual Concerns 

 of Air and Space Museums seminar. Nearly 150 delegates 

 from air and space museums and related organizations from 

 31 states, the District of Columbia, and 10 other countries 

 participated in sessions designed to share "lessons learned" 

 associated with collecting, preserving, and interpreting air 

 and space artifacts, as well as successful approaches to mar- 

 keting and fund raising. 



The Web site, including innovative on-line exhibit materi- 

 als, interactive educational programs, research highlights, 

 and virtual tours of museum galleries continued to serve a 

 national and internarional audience, providing families, stu- 

 dents, and professionals with the opportunity to learn about 

 our exhibits, programs, research, and collections. The Web 

 site continued to grow in populariry in 2000, receiving over 

 84 million hits — a 20 percent increase over 1999. All areas of 

 the site continue to grow in content and scope. Major addi- 

 tions and enhancements include a full-text search engine, 

 updated collections and exhibition information, additional 

 educational activities, reference materials, downloadable pub- 

 lications, on-line shopping, and a newly designed section 

 featuring information about the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. 



The space section of the Beyond the Limits gallery was 

 updated in October 1999 with the addition of a Motorola 

 satellite for the Iridium system, the first satellite communi- 

 cations system in low Earth orbit and the first to provide 

 worldwide coverage. Also added were exhibits on the Irid- 

 ium system and on satellites and international 

 communication, including an INTELSAT VI satellite. In 

 November the renovation of the Langley IMAX© Theater 

 lobby was completed, making this area much more vibrant, 

 inviting, and visitor-friendly. 



Slated to open in 2002 is a complete renovation of the Air 

 Transportation gallery. The new exhibition will present a 

 more thorough treatment of the history of civil air trans- 

 portation in the United States. New exhibits will be created 

 to support the unifying theme: how the federal government 

 has carefully guided the growth and development of the air- 

 line industry, leading it to a position of international 

 preeminence. 



In the planning phase are an exhibition to commemorate 

 the centennial anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic 

 flight in 1903 and "Dream to Fly," which will chronicle the 

 struggle of African Americans to break into aviation. Design 

 and planning also continue for the exhibition component of 

 the Udvar-Hazy Cenrer, and work continues on the mu- 

 seum's exhibit gallery maintenance projecr. A wall to honor 

 donors who have made unrestricted donations to the Na- 

 tional Air and Space Museum was erected across from the 

 Langley IMAX® Theater on the first floor of the museum. 



The 2000 Exploring Space Lecture Series topic was "Ex- 

 ploring Earth's Moon." Distinguished lecturers, including 

 Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon, and Harrison 

 Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut, discussed the history of lunar 

 explorarion, what we have learned about the Moon, and what 

 we continue to learn. 



During fiscal year 2000, the Museum Education Program 

 continued to reach out to educators both locally and 

 throughout the country, in part by producing multiple 

 teaching posters, teacher guides, and museum guides. Fiscal 

 year 2000 teacher guides include African American Pioneers in 

 Aviation 1920— Present, Airmail to Airlines, and Reflections on 

 Earth: Biodiversity and Remote Sensing. 



A plan was developed, approved and is being implemented 

 for documenting the Udvar-Hazy Center construction. There 

 have been four photo and video shoots to date. Planning for a 



