Air and Space Museum

Been a busy week. There never seems a dull moment. We joined a training group for the Marine Corp Marathon in October. We don't plan to do the marathon or half, but wanted to do the training and also meet other runners. We had our first run on Saturday. It was 4miles (6k) which was a big distance for a first run. Was only a small turnout but we'll try it for a little while longer until we find something better. We have also found a group that has several 'chapters' over DC - it's called Moms Run This Town. They communicate on Facebook and it seems to be a more flexible and suitable way to meet new friends and running buddies. We're meeting a lady tomorrow morning for a run before work and also going to their monthly dinner/drinks for new people to meet others. Should be good. They also seem to do lots of fun runs and other runs together so I think this might be the solution we've been looking for. So trying to fit in running, some cycling and gym work is becoming quite a challenge. The added 1 hour dog walk each day certainly adds to the exercise. Sadly, I'm not getting any thinner.

It has been really bloody hot and humid. They reckon it will get much worse, like 90% humidity. I like the humidity having come from Townsville at home but it makes exercise a very wet activity. 

I finally got to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Bob came with me and was my tour guide given he's been a few times himself. It was fabulous. I plan to visit the museums again because you need more time to look/read everything. I think winter will be perfect as it will be very quiet without the tourists. There were loads of artefacts including planes, lunar items, space equipment, moon rocks and lots of history on famous air/space pioneers such as the Wright Brothers, Amelia Urquhart, the Red Baron and other pioneers I've never heard of !!  The picture here is none other than Neil Armstrong's space suit and the Apollo 11 lunar module.

The pics below show US and Russian space stations joined by a common module. Hard to see but quite incredible to see given they had to design a connecting module between the two space stations.

The pic on the right is the X15 aircraft. Now this baby has some serious credentials. It was a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft aircraft operated by the US Air Force and NASA as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. As of September 2015, the X-15 holds the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft. It could reach a top speed of 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h), or Mach 6.72.

During the X-15 program, 13 flights by eight pilots met the Air Force spaceflight criterion by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles (80 km), thus qualifying these pilots as being astronauts. The Air Force pilots qualified for astronaut wings immediately, while the civilian pilots were eventually awarded NASA astronaut wings in 2005, 35 years after the last X-15 flight. The only Navy pilot in the X-15 program never took the aircraft above the requisite 50 mile altitude and so as a result, never earned himself astronaut wings.

 

This huge thing is Skylab.

The orbital workshop is the largest component of Skylab, America's first space station. It houses the living quarters, work and storage areas, research equipment, and most of the supplies needed to support a succession of three-man crews. Two complete Skylab space stations were manufactured and equipped for flight, and one was launched into Earth orbit in May 1973. After the Skylab program was canceled as effort shifted to Space Shuttle development, NASA transferred the backup Skylab to the National Air and Space Museum in 1975. 

You can walk through the middle of it and see the work area, showers and beds. Quite spacious when you compare with the cramped lunar modules.

One of the really interesting displays was the Wright Brothers aircraft and objects. On display is the Wright Flyer from 1903.

This was the first successful heavier than air powered aircraft to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Wright Brothers flew it four times on 17 Dec 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

It was built using giant spruce wood, the wings has a 1 in 20 inch camber and since they couldn’t find suitable gas engine, they had a new design done for a crude gas engine. A sprocket chain drive, from bicycle technology powered the twin propellers which were also made by hand. It was a biplane configuration and the pilot flew on on his stomach on the lower win with his head toward the front of the craft in an effort to reduce drag.

The other thing I found interesting was that the Wright Brothers began manufacturing and selling bicycles of their own design in 189. The Van Cleve and St. Claire were their first, named after their ancestors. They invented the self-oiling hub and the innovation of machining the crank arm and pedal on the left side of the bike with left-hand threads to prevent the pedal from coming unscrewed while cycling. 

The brick building at 22 South Williams St., where the Wrights worked from 1895 to 1897, is the only extant building on its original foundation and in its original location that housed a Wright bicycle shop. They ran their printing shop on the second-floor. The Wright Brothers financed their aviation interests from their bike profits.

There were so many aircraft hanging from the ceilings or on the floor. There were aircraft that Chuck Yager flew and seeing all this history has motivated me to watch the movie 'The Right Stuff' again - this movie was fabulous, showing the pilots who pushed their bodies and aircraft to the limits on the space boundaries and going supersonic beyond belief. 

There is another annex to the Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport. It is massive apparently and has the Space Shuttle Discovery and a whole lot more larger objects. I will certainly visit that place in coming months.

I had a former work friend visit the past two days and it was so nice to have our first visitor to our home and eat at our dinner table. We did an express memorial walk on Sunday in the heat and she came for dinner last night and also walked the dogs. I really enjoyed catching up and look forward to the rest of you coming to visit !!!

Met another neighbour across the street. She was lovely and it was quite funny how the conversation turned to winter and snow shovelling. Our side of the street gets it easier cause we face south so snow melts in the sun and we are sloped downhill. So we took the nice hint that the other side of the street likes help shovelling as their snow stays for longer. I  am quite excited about shovelling snow but I"m sure I'll be sick of it very quick.

Well, hot news is that Hillary Clinton looks about to become the Democratic nominee. While their conventions will confirm both Dem and Rep nominees, it seems it will be Trump and Clinton lining up for the race for President.  

Long blog tonight but look out for our future posts as we are heading to Detroit, Michigan for a look and there is lots to tell about that place.