The Bicentennial Was Better

Back when we had real celebrations to celebrate America, not a narcissist:

On July 1, 1976, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in a building that was considered the epitome of modern architecture in the 1970’s. The Smithsonian’s interest in aeronautics appeared early in that institution’s history. The aeronautical collections were started with a group of kites obtained from the Chinese Imperial Commission at the close of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. These formed a logical beginning for the items that later made up the collections because kites were the first form of aircraft devised by human beings.
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In 1958, Congress authorized the preparation of plans and specifications for the construction of a new building for the air museum but appropriated no funding; it designated a three-block site directly across the National Mall from the National Gallery of Art for a “National Air Museum for the Smithsonian Institution.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation on September 6, 1958.

The beginning of the conquest of space in the 1950’s and 1960’s helped to drive the renaming of the Air Museum to the National Air and Space Museum. In July, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation that amended the original 1946 legislation to include the field of spaceflight, and the institution’s name was changed to the National Air and Space Museum as part of a congressional act authorizing a separate building to house its collections.

In 1971, Michael Collins, former Apollo 11 astronaut, was appointed director of the National Air and Space Museum. The next year, Congress appropriated $41.9 million in construction funds for a new building for NASM. The total volume of the new museum was reduced about 50 percent, however, when funding delays resulted in overall cost estimate increases. Although the museum was redesigned to save costs, the building that resulted contained only two-thirds to three-fourths of the display volume in the earlier design. The architect, Gyo Obata, designed a building that could hold large aircraft and spacecraft in such a way that their significance would be highlighted and museum visitors could view the collection easily.
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On July 1, 1976, as part of the Smithsonian’s contribution to the U.S. Bicentennial celebration, an official and very special ribbon-cutting ceremony took place. It began with a signal sent from the Viking 1 spacecraft that was then approaching Mars, which was relayed from space to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, then via ground lines to NASM, where it activated a mechanical “arm” identical to one on Viking 1. As the arm retracted, there was a puff of smoke, the ribbon was cut, and the museum’s doors were opened to the public. Speaking at the event, President Gerald R. Ford called NASM “a perfect birthday present from the American people to themselves.”

I'll take this opportunity to note that Michael Collins asked geologist Farouk El-Baz to join him at the museum and lead the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies.  Something I would not expect to happen in the Trump era...