Mission Statement
Celebrate... Educate... Inspire!
Celebrate aviation and space flight history through preservation of significant artifacts, presentation of dynamic exhibits, and commemoration of the men and women who forged aerospace history.
Educate the public about the social and historical significance of aerospace technology and its promise for the future.
Inspire students to excel in technology, mathematics and the sciences, and encourage all visitors to become life-long learners in support of aerospace advancement.
Description
Aviation history is truly a remarkable story, and it all unfolds at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Your journey through the history of flight begins as you stand beneath a model of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon of 1783 - the first manned vehicle in recorded history to break the bonds of gravity and lift man above the Earth.
Our International Aerospace Hall of Fame, the only one in the world, honors those men and women who have made a substantive contribution to the advance of the aerospace sciences. Exhibitry accompanying their portraits relates to the honorees and their accomplishments. Names such as Lindbergh, Montgolfier, Earhart, Gagarin, and Armstrong are here, all a part of the saga of the continuing conquest of air and space.
The Dawn of Powered Flight exhibit takes you to the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where you are introduced to the first successful attempt at controlled, powered flight.
Rare specimens of aircraft suggest the excitement of air combat in the World War I Gallery. Marvel at the entertaining and dangerous antics of the barnstormers of the 1920s in the Golden Age of Flight Gallery.
Mint condition aircraft in a mint condition museum - a Spitfire Mk. XVI, a Navy F6F Hellcat and an A-4 Skyhawk jet - these beautifully restored airplanes help you appreciate the increasingly complex technology represented in the classic military aircraft of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
The Museum's display of space age technology, like man's desire to journey to the stars, may never be finished, for it represents an adventure which the human race has truly just begun.
