The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum awards its Michael Collins Trophy annually for Lifetime and Current Achievements. The 2021 recipients are Gene Kranz for Lifetime Achievement and the SpaceX Crew Dragon Team for Current Achievement; they will receive their awards at a ceremony at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received $1 million from Flexjet to support the new “Thomas W. Haas We All Fly” gallery. The exhibition will celebrate general aviation by telling the story of its many aspects in the United States and how it affects the average visitor’s daily life. The gallery is part of the museum’s ongoing transformation of all its galleries at its flagship building in Washington, D.C., and is scheduled to open in 2022.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received a $10 million gift from Citadel Founder and CEO and philanthropist Ken Griffin to support the creation of the new “Exploring the Planets” exhibition.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received $3 million from the Daniels Fund to support the new “Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air” gallery.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received $5 million from David M. Rubenstein in support of the newly redesigned “The Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age” exhibition. The gift will contribute to the safe preservation and display of the 1903 Wright Flyer, one of the Smithsonian’s iconic artifacts and the centerpiece of the gallery. The redesign of the exhibition is part of the museum’s ongoing transformation of all its galleries in the flagship building in Washington, D.C., and is scheduled to open in 2022.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received $10 million from the Kislak Family Foundation to support the creation of the new “World War II in the Air” exhibition. Construction on the gallery is scheduled to begin in 2022 and is part of the museum’s ongoing transformation of all its galleries at the flagship building in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will host programming and offer a variety of resources and expertise to coincide with the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars, Thursday, Feb. 18. The museum’s scientists are involved in a number of Mars research missions with NASA and will share their insights on this current endeavor. A variety of programming will be available for all ages beginning Thursday, Feb. 4, and special Perseverance-themed merchandise will go on sale for a limited time starting Thursday, Feb. 11.

Findings from a recently published paper by Smithsonian senior scientist Thomas R. Watters reveal that Mercury has managed to retain much more of its interior heat than previously thought. Images and data obtained by NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft show that Mercury has experienced only a modest amount of global contraction. This is in contrast to other studies that cite large amounts of contraction, suggesting Mercury cooled more quickly. Mercury’s modest amount of global contraction suggests an evolutionary path for small rocky planets where interior heat is retained. “A case for limited global contraction of Mercury” was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment—Nature.

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum welcomed the Blue Angels’ F/A-18C Hornet into the national collection. This is the first “Blue Angels” aircraft and the first F-18 the museum has acquired. The recently retired F/A-18C flew into Dulles, Nov. 18, in preparation for display at the museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA at a later date.