The Mission to transform the Museum

The National Air and Space Museum is undergoing a monumental multi-year renovation, which began in 2018. Transforming every visitor's experience, the museum will use creative and dynamic techniques to engage visitors while they are at the museum and after they leave. All 23 exhibitions will be completely reimagined, with new presentation spaces and attractions. 

Building on a commitment from Congress, we will raise $250 million from leaders in the aerospace industry and people like you to dramatically transform our exhibitions and renovate the entire Museum, inside and out.

94%
of $250 Million Goal

Mission Stats

The transformation of the Museum represents an unprecedented moment in the conservation and preservation of thousands of artifacts, as well as a remarkable evolution of the Museum’s immersive learning experience.

23

galleries and spaces being reimagined for immersive learning

1,400

new objects on display

5,200+

artifacts moved and preserved

07

years devoted to transforming the world’s most popular museum
Take a Sneak Peak
    Rendering of a portion inside the new Griffin Gallery at National Air and Space Museum
    The Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets exhibition will probe the science and history of our understanding of planets and moons. The exhibition will be arranged around dynamic, immersive audiovisual experiences to simulate different planetary landscapes and present visitors a view of standing on other planets.
    Destination Moon Exhibition Rendering
    The Destination Moon exhibition will explore the extraordinary combination of motivations, resources, and technologies that made it possible for humans to go to the Moon. The exhibition’s highlights will include the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit, and a Saturn V engine.
    A gallery featuring a glowing globe and a plane.
    The One World Connected exhibition will tell the story of how flight fostered two momentous changes in everyday life: the ease in making connections across vast distances and a new perspective of Earth as humanity’s home. Featuring an array of satellites, the exhibit will ask visitors to consider how global interconnection touches their lives and imagine how advances in technology might impact our future. 
    An artist's rendering showing a gallery with old planes.
    Between the first flights at Kitty Hawk and the opening guns of WWI, the design and construction of aircraft and engines became a global industrial enterprise. The Early Flight exhibition will use artifacts such as the 1909 Wright Military Flyer and the Blériot XI to explore the impact of the airplane on politics and international relations. Mechanical interactives will allow visitors to operate different types of control systems and interact with digital representations of early aviation pioneers. 
    An artist's rendering of a gallery with a plane suspended upside down aloft.
    The Thomas W. Haas We All Fly gallery will celebrate how the availability of different types of aircraft made it possible for a wide range of people to fly. The exhibition will take visitors through the many different forms of general aviation from aerobatics and air racing to gliders and ultralights to business aviation to agriculture and firefighting. Interactive elements will put visitors in the cockpit. 
    Rendering
    The Nation of Speed exhibition will recount humankind’s desire to become the fastest on land, sea, air, and space in the pursuit of commerce, power, and prestige. This new gallery will be a portrait of human ingenuity and will explore how the pursuit of speed has shaped American culture and our national identity.
    A gallery with an older flyer.
    The Wright Brothers exhibition will provide visitors unprecedented access to the iconic 1903 Wright Flyer while unraveling the story of invention and innovation.
    A gallery with a 747 nose in the front.
    America by Air explores the history of air transportation in America and the ways that improvements in technology have revolutionized air travel. This rendering shows a revamped approach to the Museum’s commercial aviation gallery.
Exhibitions Reimagined
Explore What's on the Horizon
Read more
Stories of Transformation
A truck on a public road with other vehicles behind it as carries a large white triangular object with the city view in the background.
Story
Columbia Comes Home
Rendering of new We All Fly Gallery
Story
Transforming the Museum: Gallery Spotlights
Rendering of Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery at the National Air and Space Museum
Story
New Perspectives of Old Worlds
Aircraft hanging in under construction gallery with people in yellow construction vests in the background
Story
Change is in the Air: Moving Artifacts Back into the Building
1903 Wright Flyer
Story
Explore the Wright Flyer
Rendering
Story
Ford v. Ferrari Reminds Us That We Are a Nation of Speed
Top of red Wittman Special 20 "Buster" aircraft
Story
The Many Lives of Buster the Air Racer
Transporting the T-38 Talon
Story
Going Subsonic: Moving the T-38 Talon
Be the Spark

A mission this ambitious is impossible without you.

Building on a commitment from Congress, we will raise $250 million from leaders in the aerospace industry and people like you to dramatically transform our exhibitions and renovate the entire Museum, inside and out. Every gift brings us closer to our $250 million goal. Donate today and take your place in the history and future of air and space.

 

Donate