The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has reopened its last spaceflight gallery, "At Home in Space," after a renovation of its flagship building in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian completed the project after seven years of work and nearly $1 billion, according to the source. The museum opened the gallery on October 30.
Curator Jennifer Levasseur said the exhibition tells the story of long-duration spaceflight in the last few decades. She said it moves from the space shuttle era to the International Space Station, and then to the next steps in spaceflight.
The gallery displays several artifacts. They include a space shuttle main engine, Robonaut 1A, and an extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuit. Levasseur said the EMU is, as far as she knows, the first and potentially only public display of a fully flown set of EMU equipment. The suit is missing a functioning portable life support system, and the museum displays only its shell for now.
The gallery also includes in-flight suits worn by Guy Bluford and Sally Ride, and recovered components from the Challenger and Columbia accidents. It is only the second public display of fallen orbiter debris, according to the source. The source notes a previous exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, which opened in 2015.
Visitors can walk through a full-size mock-up of the space station's Destiny module. The gallery also displays the first 3D printer used in space, which Made In Space and NASA flew in 2014. The gallery concludes with a space for the Artemis I capsule.