Discovery

One of my nephews is crazy about airplaces and helicopters (he is just over 2). So, yesterday we visited the National Air and Space Museums Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which next to Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia. This worked out nicely because I recently read a book about the U.S. airplane/space program called _Hidden Figures_ (about the teams of female, african-american "computers" hired by the U.S. goverment from the 40s through 70s to perform reams of sensitive engineering calculations) for our incoming honors students. (I have so sit on some faculty panel representing mathematics in a month.) Anyway -- after reading all that it was nice to spend some time looking over airplanes, jets, and a realy nice collection of space stuff. 


The space shuttle Discovery was the centerpiece of one hanger, and what an amazing thing it is. It looks a bit like a plane made by children out of boxes when you are up close, not at all sleek like you think it will be from TV but covered in fuzzy looking insulation and scared tiles. Nonetheless, as I looked the ship over I could not help but thing that this is what humanity should be doing -- exploring the stars. Not using our technology to kill one another as we say in the Holocaust Museum a few days ago.


Soapbox aside, I recomend visiting if you are ever in the states and have an interst in planes. It is free and the museum includes a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, and hundreds of other historical aircraft.