How does the National Air and Space Museum take care of its artifacts? Who are the people responsible for preserving aerospace artifacts of all shapes and sizes? And what famous aircraft has a pair of googly eyes hiding in its cockpit? To find out, we joined a Museum conservator for a tour.
Along the way, we visited Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit, a rocket engine recovered from the seafloor, an experimental aircraft that visited the edge of space, a reusable booster with scorch marks from reentering Earth’s atmosphere, and even a sculpture in our art gallery that required delicate handling for its long-term preservation.
Listen to learn more about the incredible research, techniques, and dedicated people at work behind the scenes preserving and conserving the one-of-a-kind objects in our collection.
Thanks to our guest in this episode:
- Lisa Young, Supervisory Objects Conservator, National Air and Space Museum
For the episode transcript and more information (including a map of where to find the objects we talked about in this episode at the Museum), visit https://airandspace.si.edu/airspace-podcast/transformation-conservation.
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Further Links and Photos:
- Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Spacesuit: https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/armstrong-suit
- North American X-15: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/north-american-x-15/nasm_A19690360000
- Recovered F-1 engine pieces on display: https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/image/apollo-11-f-1-engine-display
- Flown Blue Origin New Shepard booster being installed in the "Missile Pit:" https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/image/new-shepard-blue-origin-gallery
- "Instruments for a New Navigation #1" sculpture by Morris Graves: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/instruments-new-navigation-1/nasm_A19800134000