This is the forward sunshade baffle from the 36-inch reflector telescope that comprised one of the three major instruments designed to observe the sky in the UV spectrum on the Space Shuttle based ASTRO payload. It was flown on Astro-I in December 1990 and again on Astro-II in March, 1995. The telescope was manufactured by the Center for Astrophysical Sciences and the Applied Physics Lab of Johns Hopkins University. It was transferred by NASA in 2001.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.