The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum will acquire the gondola from adventurer Steve Fossett's Bud Light Spirit of Freedom, which completed the first solo round-the-world balloon flight in July. The ceremony will take place in the museum's Milestones of Flight gallery on Sept. 5 at 11 a.m.

The bright yellow capsule will be presented by Fossett, who piloted the balloon on a 14-day, 20,482-mile circumnavigation of the globe. It will initially be displayed in the museum's Milestones gallery, which houses such icons of flight as the 1903 Wright Flyer, the first airplane; the Spirit of St. Louis, the first airplane to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic; and the Apollo 11 command module, the first spacecraft to carry humans to the moon and back.

Museum Director J.R. "Jack" Dailey, who requested the craft for the national collection while the adventure was still being planned, says Fossett "has achieved one of the last remaining 'firsts' in flight and it is absolutely fitting that his craft be displayed at our flagship building in Washington. We are all about charting new paths of flight."

Fossett says he's proud to have achieved "a place in aviation history" and is honored to have the capsule available to the public in the Air and Space Museum.

The gondola, made of a lightweight composite of Kevlar and carbon, measures 7 feet high, 5 feet long and 5 feet wide, and weighs 500 lbs. It was equipped with an autopilot, which helped Fossett maintain a constant altitude. In addition to radio communications, Fossett had satellite e-mail and telephone communications onboard. A heating system maintained the capsule temperature between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Fossett slept on a full-length bunk with a sleeping bag.

The Bud Light Spirit of Freedom took off June 19 from Northam, Western Australia, and landed July 4 near Durham Station in Queensland, Australia. It was Fossett's sixth attempt at such a flight. He reached the around-the-world mark July 2 over the Southern Ocean by crossing the 117th parallel, the same longitude on which he began his flight. His landing was delayed more than a day because of high outback winds. His mission control was based at Washington University in St. Louis.

Steve Fossett also holds world records as an airplane pilot and speed sailor.

The gondola will eventually be displayed in the museum's Pioneers of Flight gallery, which is also home to the Douglas World Cruiser, the first airplane to fly around the world; the Spirit of Texas, the first helicopter to fly around the world; and a quarter-scale model of the Montgolfier hot air balloon, which in 1783 carried two Frenchmen on the first free flight in human history.

The museum will have a special presentation on ballooning history at its companion facility, set to open in December 2003 at Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center will house the 80 percent of the collection that is not on display in the museum's flagship building on the National Mall in Washington or on loan.