Were back live now at the Smithsonian National air and space museum, where the museum today is celebrating its 40th birthday. It was 40 years ago today that president gerald ford dedicated this museum. In about a half hour, well bring you live coverage of the events celebrating that anniversary. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Our phone lines are open. 2027488900 for those in the eastern or central time zones. If you live out west, 2027488901. Send us a tweet at cspan history or join us on facebook at facebook. Com cspanhistory. As we move outside to inside, one of the displays, and there are so many inside this fabulous museum, is moving beyond earth. And an example of the evolution of americas Space Shuttle program. And joining us again is valerie neal. We saw you just a moment ago in the tape portion. You are the curator, the chair of the Space History Department here at the museum. And lets talk about the shuttle program. No other country had Something Like that. Well, briefly the soviet union did. They built a craft called buran that mimicked our Space Shuttle. But it was several years later. They flew one test flight and then retired it. They didnt really have a need for a shuttle craft. But they were very worried about what we might use ours for. And they thought they should have one too, just in case. But really, in the annals of space history, the u. S. Space shuttle is unique. Its the only operational craft thats reusable. Its the only craft that was the size of a cargo freight hauling truck out on the highway or an air freight carrier. It was much more capable than any other spacecraft has been, and very likely any other spacecraft ever will be. Not enough room here for one of the Space Shuttles. The enterprise, correct, is at the dulles facility . Well, we now have discovery at our center near Dulles Airport. We have the Space Shuttle enterprise for a number of years. The prototype test flight vehicle. But when the Space Shuttle came to an end, we requested a flownin Space Shuttle and we were fortunate to receive discovery, the oldest of the Space Shuttles. And we turned enterprise back over to nasa. And nasa placed it at the intrepid sea, air space museum in new york city. So it has a new home there on an Aircraft Carrier of all places. You study the Space Shuttle. So lets go back into history. How was it developed . Why was it developed . And whats its impact on americas Space Exploration . Well, the Space Shuttle signaled a turn in americas Space Program from destinationfocused program, lets get to the moon and get there before the russians do. Lets put humans on the moon. And once that was done, nasa and the nation reoriented to trying to use space as a place to do useful work. To make space a normal part of what americans do in science and technology. So the philosophy turned from these throwaway vehicles that you use one time, very expensive way to going into space and tried to develop a spacecraft on the model of an airline, a craft that could be flown again and again and again, could carry more passengers and could carry more cargo into space. And so the Space Shuttle was a vehicle that would then enable the construction of a space station. And with a space station, people could really begin to live and work off the planet. In the display just down the hall, moving beyond earth, what is your takeaway . What will people learn and see . We hope they learn a couple of things in the moving beyond earth gallery which is the Space Shuttle era. One is that its harder to get into space and to stay in space and do it economically than anybody everybody imagined. It turns out the airline wasnt really a good analogy for how to do space flight. And then the other is that people who work within the space flight industry, the space flight endeavour really keep encountering the same challenges over and over again, finding new solutions to them. The space entrepreneurs who are working today are all trying to find a less expensive way to go into space. And theyre looking at reusable rockets where the rocket itself comes back down and lands so that it can be used again. There also are the same questions about what happens to the human body in space and how do you keep a crew healthy and fit and productively employed in space, particularly as the durations get longer and longer. So same questions, new solutions, new challenges. The evolution in part behind you from the mercury and Gemini Program to the Apollo Program to the Space Shuttle program. Looking back, all a Natural Evolution in our Space Exploration . Well, it didnt actually have to happen that way. So its definitely an evolution, but it could have happened in the reverse. And in fact, wernher von braun and some of the early space pioneers imagined the first step just to get into orbit and to build a space station and to establish a rhythm of life on a space station and then go to the moon. And then after the moon, then go to mars. And president kennedy kind of flipped the order of things. And so thats why we started with that sequence of vehicles. But had it not been the cold war, had we not been in this competition with the soviet union, it might have been a much different evolution. Everyone we have talked to here at this museum talks about their job with smiles and enthusiasm and excitement. Whats going on here . Well, its just a fantastic place to work. It really is. Mainly because this museum is beloved by millions of people. And so its a real privilege to work here at a place that people always say is their favorite museum, or they always say they envy us. But tonight especially everybody is smiling because weve reached the culmination of a twoyear effort to totally renovate our central hall and a make it much more visitorfriendly, make it much more hightech, and really put the objects on display with some new shine, some new sparkle. And so everybody is excited about that. Its like a debut party tonight. And for those of you watching live on cspan3 American History tv, it really is a night at the museum. Because its open all night. So if youre in washington, d. C. On this friday, july 1st, come on down and youll be here for a few more hours. I will indeed. And fully staffed until tomorrow morning when it opens again for the public. But the public can come overnight. As always, its free admission as well. So were hoping to have the museum full all night long. And youll hear more and more people behind me. Lets go to mike joining us in virginia. Thank you for waiting. Go ahead with your question with valerie neal here at the museum. Caller hi, ms. Neal. Thanks very much for taking my call. Hey, i understand that the nro has donated a Spy Satellite to the museum. What satellite was that, and when do you expect that to go on display . Thanks. Well, i have to say you may have stumped the curator here because i dont know that theyve actually donated one yet of the Newer Versions of Spy Satellites. But we do have on display here the camera system from the corona, which was one of the earliest Spy Satellites in the late 1960s and early 70s. It went under a code name of discoverer. But we have that camera on display in the film return bucket as well. We have another satellite called grab and another one called solrad. And they also were used for secret purposes masquerading under names that led the public to believe that they were simply scientific satellites. So those are the ones that i know of that are small and early. We are hoping some day to have a more recent one and a much larger one. But to my knowledge, that agreement hasnt been reached yet. Sorry to disappoint you. John glenn, Neil Armstrong, mike collins the first director of this museum, and many who have died as well in search of Space Exploration. Why were they such pioneers . Well, the early astronauts were pioneers because space was this great unknown. And people referred to it as the new frontier or the next frontier. But in fact until you get to another planetary body, space is a vacuum. Its filled with harsh radiation. Its a very forbidding and unfriendly place. And no one knew quite what was going to happen out there. No one knew at the time if the technology would prove to be safe and reliable. They didnt know if the human body could withstand the difference of being in a microgravity environment. They didnt even know such simple things would you be able to see clearly . Would you be able to swallow normally. So everything was new. And the fact that these test pilots were already proved and proved to be brave and courageous and bold, they loved flying and they were accustomed to pushing aircraft to their outer limits i think made them heroes. And the fact that we were in this cold war environment, and they became symbolic of americans. They became the knights that were going to do this cold war battle with the other side, with the soviet union. Coincidentally, they all looked like boy scouts, you know, with their crew cuts and their crisp clothing. They just sort of looked like they represented the best of america. And all of those things together i think made them heroes in the eyes of the public. You have been here 25, 26 years. Among the astronauts who have come through, who have you met . Well, ive been fortunate to meet a number of the Space Shuttle astronauts. Because thats the particular period of time i work in. But just two weeks ago we had Michael Collins here, the first time he has been here in a few years. Our original director. And weve met buzz aldrin, Neil Armstrong, john glenn, scott carpenter, pete conrad used to come here. Owen garriott back from the early period, john young and the first crew for the first Space Shuttle mission. Eileen collins has been here and pam melbourne, the two commanders of the shuttle mission. And again in may, we had astronauts who had just returned from the International Space station. So whenever they come to washington, they like to come here too. Many of them spent hours here when they were children. And they say that this museum was partly responsible for their love of aviation and their passion to become astronauts. Let me just make the point, for those of you listening on cspan radio, of course watching on cspan3s American History tv, we are live at the national air and space museum in washington, d. C. Our next caller is john joining us from New Hampshire with valerie neal. Go ahead, please. Caller good evening, ms. Neal. I just want to ask if youre going to show the during the program. I know other people involved in the restoration. And ive been looking forward to seeing it. Also, i want to thank the national air and space museum for preserving Human History for future generations. I see lots of planes i used to work on there. So again, thank you very much. Thank you. The Starship Enterprise which actually never flew. Right. Though it appeared to fly. And you asked whether well be showing it here at the museum, certainly, and i assume cspan will be showing it also. It is on display here tonight, and will be on display here for the foreseeable future. I mean possibly forever. I dont think we will renovate this hall again for another 20 years or so. So you have a good chance to see it. It has been very carefully restored to look exactly as it looked in 1969, i think. At the time of the episode of the trouble with tribbles, which was a key turning point in the history of that show and the history of that model. And it has been very carefully wired up with l. E. D. Lights. And three times a day on the hours of 11 00, 1 00, and 3 00 the lights are activated and you can enjoy seeing enterprise as it appeared on screen with flashing lights in red and green and white. See all the windows. Its quite a striking sight. I hope youll come down and see it. What did Gene Roddenberry have in mind when he developed star trek . And 40, 45 years later, were still talking about it. Initially it wasnt that popular. Exactly. It wasnt that popular to begin with. But it had a very devoted fan club early on, a very devoted audience. But he really wanted to do a kind of mythical show set in space, but he wanted to deal with contemporary issues. And thats what made it so interesting, that almost every story was a kind of veiled reference to something that was going on in the world around us, whether it was cold war, antagonisms, the conflict in vietnam, womens rights, racial tensions in the United States, conflicts between science and the humanities, conflicts between liberal and conservative points of view. And so he was drawing all his subject matter from the present, but then projecting it out into the future. And that gave people a new lens to look at current affairs. We are about 15 minutes away from the ceremony that will take place not far from where were at outside at 8 30 eastern time. Lets go to tim joining us in iowa. Thanks for your call. Go ahead with your question. Caller hello. Hello . Good evening. Hello, good evening. Caller good evening. I know that the museum only has so much space. How many artifacts are kept in storage . And how do you store them . Oh, thats a great question. Altogether the museum has about 50,000 artifacts that range in size from full aircraft and spacecraft to small things that you can hold in the palm of your hand, things like Mission Patches or lapel pins or medals and medallions that people in the military services wear. We have i believe we have about 20 of our collection on display in the museum here on the mall. Another 20 of our collection on display near Dulles Airport in our second facility, which is called the udvarhazy center. And another 20 that is out on loan in museums around the country and even abroad. And the objects that are in storage are in two locations right now. One in maryland and one out at the udvarhazy center near Dulles Airport that is stateoftheart storage. Its beautiful, air conditioned, brandnew Storage Facility where things are packed in boxes and on shelves and in very good climate controlled conditions. The place in maryland has been our storage site since oh, the 1940s. And its in need of being vacated. And thats what we are doing quite gradually is moving things from maryland to the new facility in virginia. Just recently, we completed the move of all of our aircraft engines. Before that we moved some of the most fragile objects, our leather and fur collection. And you might think the air and space museum would have much fur, but a lot of those early aviation jackets and caps were furlined. So were taking categories of objects from the old facility to the new facility. And before long, were afraid the new facility will be full again. And well have to build more storage space. Born in arkansas. Where did you study all of this . I studied space history by doing it, really. Not by studying it in college or in graduate school. But i had the good fortune to work with nasa throughout the 1980s. And that was the dawn of the Space Shuttle era. And i was working with scientists and engineers who were involved in those early Shuttle Missions up to the challenger tragedy. So there were six years there of space flight, preparing for missions, executing missions. So i really learned space history on the job. Other than the fact that i was a child in the 1960s and i was fascinated with alan shepard and john glenn. I remember like everybody who was alive then remembers exactly where i was the night we landed on the moon. July 1969. Exactly. So it was part of my cultural background, but it wasnt at all what i thought i would make my career in. And that really became a matter of serendipity, of kind of being in the right place at the right time. Im not an engineer. Im not a scientist. Im a historian and a writer. You mention maryland. Our next appropriately from Andrews Air Force base not too far away. Patrick, you are on the air. Are you in the air force . What do you do at Andrews Air Force base . Caller im in the security forces. Thank you. Go ahead with your question. Caller all right. My question is was the landing of the reusable rockets for spacex, does the smithsonian plan on getting any and displaying at any of the museums . You know, i couldnt hear the question, patrick. If you could repeat it one more time there. There is a lot of noise behind us. Caller i said with the landing of the spacex rocket, does the smithsonian plan on getting any of those rockets and displaying them at the museum . Thank you. The spacex rocket. Yes, yes. As a matter of fact, we have been watching spacex with a great deal of interest, and also blue origin. And we have opened a conversation with spacex not yet to acquire an entire rocket, but were very much interested in acquiring one of the engines that has been used. And then as we watch their history, as they move into a more frequent pace of operations and evolve their technology, were going to be watching that. And i think well eventually bring something larger into the museum. But right now we think an engine would be a perfect acquisition. Why mars . And will we see that . Well, mars has been on the horizon for as long