To think big, sometimes you need to work small.
Models are made of air and spacecraft for a lot of reasons: to experiment, to educate, to entertain, and more. Let's take a closer look at some examples of how models are used.
April 26 | Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
This month's family day explores how small models of aircraft and spacecraft play a big role in helping us imagine, design, build, and fly the real thing.
Check out the latest half hour episode featuring hands-on activities, explanations of aviation and space topics. Perfect for middle school classrooms.
Did you know the Wright brothers used models to experiment with designs?
For example, they create a kite to test their design for plane wings.
They also created a wind tunnel to test models of different wing shapes.
Test how the shape of a model airplane changes how far it flies.
When TV shows or movies need to show a spacecraft, they often create a model and film it in a way that it looks much bigger on screen.
This was the case for the original Star Trek series. The team behind the TV show used this model to represent the starship Enterprise. The fictional ship was supposed to be 947 feet long. The model is 11 feet long.
You don’t have to work on a TV show or movie to make a model. This model of the aircraft carrier named USS Enterprise was made by someone who made models for fun.
This model is much bigger and more complicated than most. It took Stephen Henninger 12 years to create it.
At the Museum, we use models in many of our exhibits.
For example, it’s easy to fit models of many types rockets into our Destination Moon exhibition. It would be much harder to fit an example of a Saturn V rocket. That rocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty.
We have many more models in our collection. Search our collection to look for a model that you find cool. Here are just a few examples: