The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has reopened all of its space galleries after a renovation of its flagship building in Washington, DC. The project took seven years and nearly $1 billion, according to the source.
On October 30, the museum opened "At Home in Space," its last spaceflight exhibition to open. Curator Jennifer Levasseur said the gallery tells the story of long-duration spaceflight, from the space shuttle era to the International Space Station, and then to future plans.
The exhibit includes a space shuttle main engine, Robonaut 1A, and an extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuit. Levasseur said the EMU on display is, as far as she knows, the first public display of a fully flown set of EMU equipment. She said the suit lacks a functioning portable life support system and currently has only a shell for that component.
The gallery also displays shirt-sleeve flight suits worn by Guy Bluford and Sally Ride, and recovered components from the Challenger and Columbia accidents. Levasseur said it is only the second public display of fallen orbiter debris, following a 2015 exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
A full-size mock-up of the ISS Destiny module lets visitors walk through the US national laboratory and view its equipment. The source also notes a first 3D printer used in space, which Made In Space (now part of Redwire) and NASA flew in 2014.
The gallery concludes with a space for the Artemis I capsule. The source excerpt ends before describing that exhibit.