Director’s Message

Never in the history of our Museum have our start-of-the-year plans been so abruptly and severely upended as they were in 2020. However, we understood quickly that the COVID-19 pandemic was something that was gravely impacting not just us and our colleagues, but the global audience we seek to inform and inspire.

We realized that we had to, and then acted to, become a fully virtual experience for our visitors. Thankfully, we were well prepared for this pivot, a result of efforts by our team in recent years to reach beyond our walls in digital spaces. At the same time, we ensured we both preserved and protected the national collection, and adjusted our work transforming our location in Washington, DC, so that our renovation project could continue under the new health restrictions.

I’m incredibly pleased with the response of our team to the challenges 2020 had to offer, and thankful for the amazing reaction and engagement of our audience that resulted from that hard work. This report summarizes and highlights the effort and creativity of our team, and also shows how, virtual or not, all we do is driven by the goals set out in the strategic plan we released last year called Expanding Our Universe. Little did we know how we would have to expand our reach as we drafted the plan, but it serves as a foundation for all we did last year and will do into the future. In each section of this report, you will see how our achievements this year mapped directly to our strategic plan.

Thank you, as always, for your support and engagement with the National Air and Space Museum.

Chris Browne
Acting Director, National Air and Space Museum