The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, will return to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026 with a full schedule of presentations, hands-on educational displays, and opportunities for visitors to meet the curators, conservators, and restoration specialists responsible for preserving some of the world’s most significant aviation and spaceflight artifacts. Throughout the week, the museum’s team will be available at Booth 328, where visitors can learn about the care and preservation of historic aircraft and spacecraft while also receiving practical advice on protecting their own family heirlooms, including photographs, military medals, and historical documents.
Experts from the museum will present 30-minute talks each day at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Topics will include the preservation of historic aircraft such as the Sikorsky JRS-1, one of the survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Lincoln Standard. Other presentations will examine the development of recently reopened galleries, including “Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air” and “At Home in Space”. Visitors will also have opportunities to ask questions during and after each session. In addition to the presentations, the museum will bring several educational artifacts that visitors can examine up close. These include space shuttle gloves and thermal protection tiles, a section of an ablative heat shield, U.S. Air Force flight helmets, examples of food prepared for astronauts, and aircraft components used during the restoration of historic airplanes.
The museum’s appearance at AirVenture comes shortly after the reopening of five additional galleries at its Washington, D.C., location as part of an ongoing multi-year renovation. Artifacts returning to public display include the North American P-51D Mustang, Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6, Hubble Space Telescope, Skylab, and the DTM Image Tube Spectrograph. New additions to the museum include an Il-2 Shturmovik and a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Visitors to the renovated galleries can also explore updated interactive exhibits, including the redesigned “TEXTRON How Things Fly” exhibition, which features hands-on experiences for younger visitors, including a Cessna Skyhawk they can climb inside.
The museum’s renovation project will conclude later this year with the reopening of “At Home in Space” on Oct. 30 and “Modern Military Aviation” on Nov. 11. The project includes the redesign of all 20 galleries, replacement of aging mechanical systems, restoration of the building’s exterior, and construction of a new entrance vestibule. Since the first phase reopened in October 2022, nearly five million people have visited the museum. Free timed-entry passes required to visit the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., are available at airandspace.si.edu. To support the National Air and Space Museum, click HERE.
