San Diego Air & Space Museum

Throughout February’s celebration of Black History Month, the San Diego Air & Space Museum will be honoring important African American women contributors in the pursuit of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including: Gladys West, who helped pioneer GPS technology; Naia Butler Craig, an Aerospace Engineering PhD Student, NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellow and GEM Fellow at Georgia Tech; Raven Baxter, an internationally acclaimed science communicator and molecular biologist; and Shavonti Archer, a skilled engineer who advocates for diversity within the engineering community. Check back weekly to learn about these truly inspiring and influential women!

Feb. 1 marks 18 years since the Space Shuttle Columbia tragically broke apart as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere in 2003, killing all seven crew members, including Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson, Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon (the first Israeli astronaut), Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist David M. Brown and Mission Specialist Laurel Blair Salton. Columbia marked the second fatal accident of shuttle program, following the loss of Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. Both brave crews are remembered forever in a special memorial in the SPACE: Our Greatest Adventure exhibit at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

January 31 is an important date in American space flight history! On Jan. 31, 1958, the U.S. launched Explorer 1, America’s first satellite into space, following the launches of Sputniks 1 and 2 by the Soviet Union in 1957, setting off the space race. On Jan. 31, 1961, America launched Ham the space chimp into suborbital flight as part of Project Mercury on a Mercury-Redstone rocket. In 1971, also on Jan. 31, Apollo 14 launched with Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell on their way to the Moon, which became the third mission to land men on the lunar surface (Shepard and Mitchell).

Scientists estimate that there are more trees on Earth than there are stars in the Milky Way. We think there are anywhere between 100-400 billion stars in our galaxy, but there are approximately three trillion trees on our planet! Source: http://ow.ly/Q24f50DlcIf

The Museum Gift Shop is open today and tomorrow from 10am-4pm. See you soon!

Please join the San Diego Air & Space Museum in wishing Russell Rusty Schweickart a happy 85th birthday, today, Oct. 25, 2020. As the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 9, Schweickart was responsible for deploying the Lunar Module aptly named Spider in space for the first time during the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969, helping to pave the way for the successful Apollo 11 Moon landing just a few months later in July 1969. Schweickart, and crew members Commander James McDivitt and Command Module Pilot David Scott, graced the Museum with their presence during a special 50th Anniversary re-union with their Command Module Gumdrop in March of 2019. Happy Birthday Rusty!

Brigadier General Robert L. Bob Cardenas, USAF (RET) flew over 60 different aircraft in his career as a test pilot, combat leader in bombers and fighters, and Commander of the Air Force Special Operations Force. Gen. Cardenas began his military career as a private in the Army Cost Artillery. He became a pilot as a cadet in the Army Air Corps, and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in July 1941. In 1942 he was sent to Twenty-Nine Palms, CA to establish an Army Air Corps Glider Schoo...l. His distinguished military career included flying combat missions in B-24 Liberators over Germany. Shot down on his 20th mission, he evaded capture and escaped. As a test pilot, he participated in the flight test evaluation of the German jet fighter ME-262 and the Arado 234 bomber. Cardenas was a key member of the X-1 supersonic project. He served as operations officer and command pilot of the B-29 that launched Captain Charles Yeager into the realm of supersonic flight on Oct. 14, 1947. Cardenas was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2008.

On this date Oct. 22 in 1968, the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, Apollo 7, splashed down in Atlantic Ocean. According to NASA, the Mission Objectives of the Walt, Wally and Donn Show (crew members Walter Cunningham, Wally Schirra and Donn Eisele) were to Demonstrate Command and Service Module (CSM) with crew performance; demonstrate mission support facilities' performance during a crewed mission and demonstrate Apollo rendezvous capability; demonstrate live TV broadcasts from space. All of which Apollo 7 performed in perfect style, paving the way for future Apollo missions. To learn more, visit NASA’s Apollo 7’s web page at: https://go.nasa.gov/35cLjBt

Throwback to the first use of an airplane in a war. On October 22, 1911, a Bleriot XI was used for reconnaissance by the Italians in the Italo-Turkish war. The Museum has a Bleriot XI constructed from original parts, currently on display at Gillespie Field. #tbt

Please join us for a socially-distanced, Halloween-themed Family Fright Night on Friday, October 23 or Saturday, October 24 from 5:30-8:00 PM. Everyone who registers will be automatically entered into an opportunity drawing to win a surprise Museum Gift Bag (value $100) that will give you something to scream about!! https://bit.ly/317ZFSd

The prototype for the Bell UH-1 flew for the first time on October 20, 1956. Often called the Huey, that is not its official nickname. What is the official name of the helicopter? #triviatuesday

The cosmic stage is all set for NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission's TAG of asteroid Bennu tomorrow are you? Join mission experts today to learn... more about this crucial leg of the mission #ToBennuAndBack (all times EDT): 1 p.m. Asteroid Science & Planetary Defense Briefing 3 p.m. Mission Science & Engineering Briefing 5 p.m. NASA Science Live Q&A with Leadership Tune in: www.nasa.gov/nasalive

In January 1921 a group of veteran World War I pilots gathered at an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village in the spirit of reminiscence and fellowship. The camaraderie of that evening eventually led to the establishment of one of the largest fraternal organizations of pilots that exists to this day, formally known as Ye Ancient and Secret Order of Quiet Birdmen. In the early 1930s the organization published its only photo album of all members, giving a rare insight into th...e early days of the Quiet Birdmen. The year book incidentally served to showcase the ‘who’s who’ of male aviators during the Golden Age of Flight. Notoriously secretive, the organization has not printed a national roster of membership in this format since. The Library holds a very rare autographed copy of this book, as distribution was limited to the small number of members at the time. In this artifact spotlight, we will look at this album, along with some of the most interesting "Quiet Birdmen" in it! https://bit.ly/3dD3wMi See more

Looking for something fun for your family to do during the Halloween season? Join us for Family Fright Nights at the San Diego Air & Space Museum: A Unique Pop Up Dining Experience for Same Family Households. Enjoy a safe, socially-distanced Halloween-themed evening (costumes encouraged) in one of San Diego's most unique and memorable venues. When: Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24 from 5:30 8:00pm. Includes Admission to the Museum, dining in our open air Pavilion of Flight with table side service for both food and drink service, access to our holiday-decorated Space Exhibit and Galleries, a Scavenger Hunt for Kids, Magic Wall and Candy Bag at the end. Limited to the first 100 guests. Sign up today! https://bit.ly/317ZFSd

Please join the San Diego Air & Space Museum on wishing former NASA astronaut Bill Anders on his 87th birthday, today, Oct. 17. Anders, who along with fellow crewmates Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, became the first men to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon in December 1968 aboard Apollo 8. During their flight, Anders took one of the most famous photos of all time Earthrise, which today is widely credited with starting the Earth movement. Anders eventually retired from the United States Air Force as a Major General and had a very successful career as a businessman. Anders entered the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 1990.

An international space mission was flown in July 1975 that many believed impossible, given the technological, political and ideological differences between the two countries involved. For the first time, the United States and the Soviet Union cooperated in a venture that resulted in their spacecraft joining to become a single space vehicle in orbit. For this unique mission, the two nations relied on proven space vehicles, the Soviet Soyuz and the American Apollo. For the two ...spacecraft to fit together, a special docking module was designed to provide a passageway between these two vehicles. The mission began on July 15, 1975, with flawless launches at the Baikonur Cosmodrome and at the Kennedy Space Center. Two days later, the two spacecraft docked 222 kilometers above the earth and remained together for two days. The Soyuz crew of Valeri Kubasov, and Alexei Leonov returned to Earth on July 21, and the American crew of Vance Brand, Donald Deke Slayton and Thomas Stafford, splashed down in the Pacific on the 24th. The astronauts and cosmonauts of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project proved that two greatly diverse nations could cooperate in space flight research, accomplish possible rescue missions in space, and take the essential first step toward today’s International Space Station. The crews of the Apollo Soyuz mission were inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2001.

Throwback to the first flight of the massive Boeing XB-15. Although only one was built, the lessons learned from the flight tests of the XB-15 would aid in the design of the B-29. #tbt