The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
I bumped into my friend Karen in one of the government office buildings and popped up to the top to check out the view of the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the White House.
The Capitol Building in the distance peaking over the buildings.
Walking past the White House.
I took an afternoon break to walk through the National Air and Space Museum. It had been a few years since the last time I was here. I always enjoy this museum.
That capsule sure is tiny!
That’s one big fan blade.
Very historic engines. On the top, a Junkers Jumo 004B and on the bottom a Whittle W.1X.
Zoom zoom aircraft!
Some more historic aircraft and spacecraft just hanging from the ceiling like it’s no big deal.
One of the Apollo capsules hanging from another ceiling.
Dat command module main display console. It was a different era back then… an era full of switches.
A radioisotope thermolelectric generator (RTG) like they used on the moon landings and similar to many others that were sent into space.
One big engine.
The business end of a Saturn 5 engine.
A touristic rocket park! Just like at Woomera!
Some very famous chronometers. These little watches made it possible to navigate with precision.
A Transit Satellite spare, just like the one hanging in the hallway outside my office at work.
The original Wright Flyer. It’s good that it came home from the UK in 1948. It’s interesting that there is still a debate over the Wrights being the first to fly. Many countries seem to have their own claims. Samuel Langley claimed first flight in the USA even.
Nice Ford Trimotor.
A Japanese Zero. This is a very rare plane indeed.
More famous planes of World War II.
Just look at that Mustang!
A German plane.
So many interesting planes here.
A few carrier-based planes.
The famous Hughes H-1 Racer. It was a major leap in aviation technology.
A Hubble Space Telescope ground spare. I wonder if the optics in this one are good or not.
A spare of the interface module that linked the USA and the USSR at the height of the Cold War up in space. So cool
I stopped off into the National Museum of the American Indian to see what the museum was like. It was most excellent. These bumper stickers in particular stood out to me. I picked up a book titled “Custer Died for Your Sins” based on seeing this bumper sticker. Haven’t had a chance to read it yet.