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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember withEXPLORATIONS from VOA Special English. Today we bring you the thirdprogram in our series that honors the Wright Brothers’ first poweredflight. It took place one-hundred years ago today. We will tell moreabout their famous aircraft. And we will tell about a new museumthat has hundreds of aircraft important in the history of flight.
VOICE ONE:
Let us go back to July, nineteen-sixty-nine. The Apollo Elevenspacecraft has left Earth and is on its way to the moon. ApolloEleven is carrying the first humans who will land on the moon.
The spacecraft is also carrying a few small pieces of very oldwood and cloth material. They are from the first aircraft to leavethe ground and return using its own power. Apollo Eleven istraveling into space to honor two American brothers — Orville andWilbur Wright.
The cloth and wood are from the Wright Brothers nineteen-oh-threeFlyer, the most important aircraft in the history of aviation. Itwas this airplane that began a revolution in the science of flight.It was this revolution that led to the successful flight of ApolloEleven. It is a revolution that is leading us into the future.
VOICE TWO:
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is near the UnitedStates Capitol building in Washington, D-C. The Air and Space Museumis the most visited museum in the world.
This year, almost eleven-millionpeople came to see airplanes and spacecraft that are important tothe history of flight. The National Air and Space Museum is the homeof the largest collection of important aircraft in the world.
VOICE ONE:
The Air and Space Museum building was completed innineteen-seventy-six. One of the first things that visitors saw whenthey entered the museum was the famous Wright Brothers airplane –the nineteen-oh-three Flyer. Museum officials placed the Flyerseveral meters above the heads of visitors near the main door. Itwas hung by wires from the ceiling in a place of honor. Otherimportant aircraft were placed near it.
Almost all visitors stopped andlooked up at the Wright Flyer. The world’s first airplane is themost important aircraft in the collection of the National Air andSpace Museum.
VOICE TWO:
Recently, the Wright Brothers’ Flyer was taken down from itsplace of honor. It was moved to a special area in the museum. It wasplaced in a large room. Museum officials say it will remain therefor about two years.
This special room honors the one-hundredth anniversary of theWright Brothers’ first flight. The new display was opened to thepublic on October eleventh. It is called “The Wright Brothers andthe Invention of the Aerial Age.”
The special room holds the Flyer and many objects that areimportant to the story of the Wright Brothers. The Flyer is nolonger hanging from the ceiling. It rests on the floor. Visitors cancome very near the famous airplane. They can walk around it andexamine it closely.
VOICE ONE:
The Wright Flyer is a very beautiful airplane. The cloth materialthat covers the wings has been replaced. It is a soft white color.The wooden pieces are a light brown color. The airplane has twolarge wings, one on top, one below. The wings are about twelvemeters long. Two smaller wings are in front of the Flyer. Thesesmall wings are control devices used to make the Flyer go up ordown.
In the center of the lower wing is a human-like form dressed inclothing similar to what the Wright Brothers wore one-hundred yearsago. To the right of this form is the Flyer’s small engine. Theengine is linked to two devices that turn the Flyer’s two largepropellers.
Many pieces of wire have been placed between the wings and othersurfaces to add strength and support. The total weight of the Flyeris only two-hundred-seventy-four kilograms.
VOICE TWO:
Visitors smile when they enter the room. Most visitors alreadyknow the story of the Wright Brothers and they know what this smallaircraft represents. If you stay in the room for a few minutes youcan hear visitors speaking many languages. For example, a group ofvisitors from China stops to inspect the plane. Several takepictures of each other standing in front of the Flyer.
Students from Spain discuss how the Flyer is made of simplematerials. A man and woman from Germany ask a man from the Americanstate of Alaska to take their picture near the Flyer. Other visitorsinspect many of the objects linked to the Wright Brothers and theirfamous flight.
VOICE ONE:
One of these objects is a letter the Wright Brothers wrote ineighteen-ninety-nine. The letter was sent to the SmithsonianInstitution asking for information about flying. Photographs of thetwo brothers show them at work, building their aircraft.
Visitors can see the silver watch that the brothers used toobserve the time of each of the four flights the Flyer made onDecember seventeenth, nineteen-oh-three. And there are a few piecesof wood and cloth material from the Flyer. These are the same piecesthat were carried by the crew of the Apollo Eleven spacecraft whenit went to the moon and returned to Earth in July,nineteen-sixty-nine.
VOICE TWO:
The Wright Brothers’ airplane is just one of several hundredaircraft the National Air and Space Museum has collected. The museumcelebrates the development of aviation and space flight.
Its job is to collect, repair and display aircraft and spaceflight equipment that are of interest to history. It is also acenter for research into the history, science and technology ofaviation and space flight.
The museum building in Washington, D-C shows many aircraft.However, it can only show about ten percent of the aircraft themuseum has collected. Many of the museum’s famous aircraft have beenkept in special buildings that have not always been open to thepublic.
That situation changed on Monday. That is when the National Airand Space Museum’s new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened to thepublic. It is named for a businessman who gave sixty-five-milliondollars to help build the center. The new building will be thepermanent home to more than two-hundred aircraft andone-hundred-thirty-five spacecraft in the museum’s collection.
VOICE ONE:
The new Udvar-Hazy Center is near the Dulles InternationalAirport in Virginia. The huge main area is abouttwenty-seven-thousand square meters. The center includes afifty-meter tall observation tower. Visitors can listen to theDulles International Airport control tower as air trafficcontrollers talk to aircraft pilots. Visitors can also watchaircraft landing and taking off from this busy airport.
VOICE TWO:
The aircraft in the display areaof the Udvar-Hazy Center are all very different. Some are more thanninety years old. Others are almost new. One of these is the AirFrance Concorde. The Concorde was the only passenger jet ever totravel faster than two times the speed of sound. That is more thantwo-thousand-one-hundred kilometers an hour. The Concorde was a giftto the museum from Air France airlines. It arrived at Dulles Airporton its last passenger flight from Paris in June.
Visitors will also want to see thefamous S-R-Seventy-One Blackbird built by the Lockheed AircraftCorporation. The Blackbird was a military intelligence aircraft thatcarried no weapons. It is still the fastest aircraft ever built andholds many speed records. It could fly at more thanthree-thousand-seven hundred kilometers an hour. This is more thanthree times the speed of sound. And it could fly near the edge ofspace at twenty-six-thousand meters above the Earth.
VOICE ONE:
In the past three weeks, we have told about the Wright Brothersand the revolution they began in the science of flight. We have toldabout some of the events to honor them. You too can take part inthese celebrations if you have a computer that can link with theInternet communications system. You can even see the new Udvar-HazyCenter and many of the aircraft it holds. You can do this by usingyour computer to search for the letters n-a-s-m — the National Airand Space Museum. Or go to the museum’s Web site: www.nasm.si.edu.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byMario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week forEXPLORATIONS from VOA Special English.