My first visit to the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum in the last century provided what for me was an exciting opportunity to see the model of the Enterprise used in filming Star Trek: The Original Series that ran on television in the 1960s. At the time I was rather disappointed over how the model was displayed, sort of as an afterthought, out of reach overhead in a hallway leading to a larger exhibit space. And the light was not very good for photographing it as one can see in these two slide photos taken at the time.


My second visit to the museum a few years ago found the model in its second exhibit location — a glass case in the gift shop! Another disappointing location but better placed for viewing the whole thing. Click to see those photos. Now I am looking forward to seeing its latest exhibit incarnation after a couple of years of being refurbished.