These are not an official part of the AMSAT meeting. You are strictly on your own as far as transportation arrangements, however we might be able to organize informal car pools to these attractions if several people are interested in visiting them.
1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Monday through Friday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturdays Telephone: 410-765-0230 Free Admission
This museum is just down the road from the Northrop-Grumman (formerly Westinghouse) Defense and Electronics Systems Center in Linthicum, MD. The displays focus largely on military radar, intelligence gathering and countermeasures from World War II to the present day. There are a few space related exhibits including a flight spare of the black and white TV camera that Apollo 11 astronauts used to send back video of their historic first Lunar EVA, along with the Emmy award that was presented to Westinghouse for this accomplishment. There is also a more recent display of the Strategic Defense Initiative's Midcourse Space Experiment which might appeal to microwave enthusiasts, and the rendezvous radar pod from Gemini 5. The military radar exhibits include some pretty awesome phased array antennas.
The museum offers a wide variety of both static and interactive displays of electronic fundamentals as well as a research and lending library that is open to the general public, with holdings that focus on all aspects of electronics history. Media format includes videotapes, manuals, books and journals. There is also an archive of historical photographs and documents that are available for research projects. You are free to walk the museum on your own, or call two weeks in advance to schedule a tour. Tours last approximately 1-2 hours depending on group size and age. The museum also hosts a complete amateur radio station, W3GR, with vintage and modern radio equipment.
Located at the intersection of Maryland Rt. 32 and the Baltimore/Washington Parkway (Maryland Rt. 295) Monday-Friday (excluding Federal Holidays) 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM 1st & 3rd Saturdays 10 am - 2 pm Telephone: 301-688-5849 Free Admission
Located adjacent to the National Security Agency, the National Cryptologic Museum provides a "peek behind the curtain" at a once-secret world -- the exploitation of enemy cryptology and the protection of American communications. These complementary activities have been of critical importance in both peace and war since the foundation of our nation, but knowledge about them has in the past been limited to a privileged few.
The National Cryptologic Museum opened to the public in December 1993. Since then it has been host to numerous government and private tour groups and interested individuals. The Museum offers a unique look at those who have labored tirelessly in the various cryptologic fields to provide a critical service to the nation.
800 F Street, NW(at the corner of 8th & F Streets) Metrorail: Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red, Yellow, and Green lines) 9 am to 8 pm, last admission: 6 pm Telephone: tollfree 866-SPY-MUSEUM , local: 202-EYE-SPYU (202-393-7798) Admission: $13 adults (12-64), $10 children (5-11) (many special exhibitions and combination tickets available)
There are more spies in Washington than any other city on Earth, according to the International Spy Museum, the only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and the only one in the world to provide a global perspective on an all-but-invisible profession that has shaped history and continues to have a significant impact on world events.
The museum covers the history of espionage from biblical times to the modern era of Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen (ex-K9QVL). Visitors can gain access to the world's largest collection of international espionage artifacts ever placed on public display. Electronic and mechanical techies will be interested in seeing the collection of ingenious hidden cameras, spy radios and bugging devices, including one that was to be buried in the concrete of the new Soviet embassy while under construction, with a small drill that would bore through the wall upon receiving a radio command from outside the building. An exhibit on the role of female spies states that throughout history, men would often talk freely of secret plans in front of the ladies since they were considered to be ignorant and harmless. There is also a collection of G-Man toys from the 1930s and 1940s when interest in G-Men ("G" stands for "Government," in this case FBI agents) was at a high and children searched for worthy role models.
At the end of your visit, the museum reminds you that only those spies who were caught or who decided to talk are known to us. The most successful spies will never be known.
The Radio History Society is dedicated to the preservation of radio and television broadcast history. Their museum provides a window into the history of broadcasting, with hundreds of permanent artifacts relating to the development of home radio and television receivers and a series of rotating exhibits which will be updated every few months. There may be a collection of broadcast microphones or transistor and novelty radios on display, another time may feature communications and ham radio equipment, or they may feature entire lines by specific manufacturers such as Atwater Kent or RCA.
The Radio and Television Museum has a large and growing library, with new books and journals arriving almost weekly. The museum is building up an extensive research library collection of early radio and television materials, including Riders, Sams and other service information along with radio text books and technical journals. The museum has acquired many early journals such as the Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers from the World War I era to the 1940s and bound volumes of rare radio magazines such as All-Wave Radio from the 1930s, Radio Broadcast, Radio News, and Radio Retailing. RHS will be reprinting early radio literature, both as a service to the antique radio community, and as a way of raising money.
Bring those old tubes in and check them yourself at the museum's tube tester, just like you did at the corner drug store in the 50's and 60's. Then check the list of available tubes to see if they have one you need among the thousands of tubes in the inventory.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 29 million books on 530 miles of shelves in three buildings. 7000 new items are added to the collection each working day. Books can not be checked out but you may read them in one of several different reading rooms.
The Library is open to all researchers 18 years or older possessing a valid photo identification (driver's license or passport) with a current address. A Library-issued Reader Identification card is required of researchers using reading rooms. The cards are currently issued in the Reader Registration Station in Room LM 140 of the Madison Building, near the Independence Avenue entrance.
The highlight of a visit to the Library of Congress is the Main Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Building. Tourists who wish to see the building without registering as a reader can enter the Library's Visitor Center for a guided tour.
The Science Reading Room is located in room Room LA-508 of the John Adams Building, across the street from the Jefferson Building. This is the public access point for the Library's scientific and technical materials as well as for the division's 4.4 million technical reports, military standards, and worldwide industrial standards. This reading room supports access to information in all areas of science and technology including engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, medicine, earth sciences, agriculture, military science, naval science, and much more.
Genealogy The Library of Congress has one of the world's premier collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical and local historical publications. The Library's genealogy collection began as early as 1815 when Thomas Jefferson's library was purchased.This museum is affiliated with the National Geographic Society which is headquartered in an adjacent building at 16th and M street. Exhibits change every few months and include most of the subjects covered in National Geographic magazine. Items for sale in the gift shop include the last 120 years of National Geographic on CD ROM, which ought to take up a lot less space in your library than the actual magazines would.
Recently opened in April 2004, the Marian Koshland Science Museum is affiliated with the National Academy of Science. The museum features state-of-the-art exhibits that present the complexities of science in an engaging and accessible way to the general public.
Don't miss these important space program highlights, which include:
Two dramatic murals dominate the walls of the Independence Avenue Lobby. Space Mural--A Cosmic View was painted by Robert T. McCall in 1976. The L-shaped mural's horizontal section is 75 feet in length; the vertical section stretches 58 feet, 6 inches. The mural's story unfolds from the left, starting with the artist's depiction of the birth of the universe. The viewer is carried past planets and asteroids. Dominating the center portion of the mural is an American astronaut on the surface of the Moon, with the lunar module, a second astronaut, and the lunar rover in the background. Orbiting above are the command and service modules. The vertical section depicts the rising Sun, galaxies, and the Milky Way.
Gallery 114 - Space Race contains the Flight Spare Skylab space station, which could have been launched into space if the first Skylab had failed, and the full size Hubble Space Telescope structural test model. The gallery also contains a collection of early ICBMs and space launch vehicles and the Apollo-Soyuz joint Soviet-American space mission which flew in 1975. There is much recently declassified material concerning the Soviet Lunar Program and many Russian space artifacts. Most of the Soviet space objects displayed here were purchased by The Perot Foundation of Dallas, Texas. Before purchase, some of these items had suffered from years of neglect and deterioration; others were in danger of being lost or destroyed. The Perot Foundation intends to hold these artifacts in trust for eventual return to the Russian people. Meanwhile they have been placed on loan to the Smithsonian Institution. One particularly interesting display is Sergi Korelov's slide rule displayed alongside Werner Von Braun's slide rule.Gallery 112 - Lunar Exploration Vehicles features an actual Apollo Lunar Module, one of 12 built for Project Apollo. It was meant to be used in low Earth orbit to test the techniques of separation, rendezvous, and docking with the command and service module. The second of two such test vehicles, its mission was cancelled because of the complete success of the first flight. Also note the Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter spacecraft hanging from the ceiling in this area.
Gallery 111 - Explore the Universe includes many astronomy artifacts from ground and space based observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope backup mirror which has been tested and found to be optically perfect, unlike the mirror that actually flew on HST. Parts from the Wide Field and Planetary Camera flown on Hubble from 1990 to 1993, and Hubble's Faint Object Spectrograph, flown from 1990 to 1997, are also on display in this gallery.
Second Floor:
Gallery 210 - Apollo to the Moon displays a large number of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo program flight artifacts, including the actual space suits worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 moonwalk, and the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package
Gallery 207 - Exploring The Planets includes the Surveyor 3 television camera returned to Earth by Apollo 12 after 31 months on the moon, an Apollo 12 lunar sample return container which actually flew to the moon and back, and a full size model of the Mars Exploration Rover, note the sundial on the back of the rover along with its inscription. A Voyager spacecraft full size mockup hangs from the ceiling in this gallery.
Second Floor, Main Hall - Opposite Gallery 209, you can walk through the Skylab space station from the small stairway leading off of the second floor. Can you spot the toilet? It's in plain sight. On the west end of the second floor hall, see a model of the aircraft carrier Enterprise built by an ambitious hobbyist.
Visitors must go through security screening upon entry to both the National Mall museum and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Visitors are asked to have bags and strollers ready for inspection. Please note that lines can form outside the building entrances and visitors are advised to dress accordingly. The following items are NOT PERMITTED in the Museum: tripods, guns, knives, pen knives, pets, food/drinks, scissors, aerosol cans, tools, smoking. Bring only a small purse or "fanny-pack"-style bag, do not bring large daypacks, backpacks or luggage into the museums, as they will be subject to a lengthy search in each building entered. Assistant dogs, strollers and cameras are allowed. The Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
There are 19 astronauts buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In addition to the 16 listed on the cemetery's web site, three members of the STS-107 crew are also interred at Arlington: These graves are located just behind the Challenger and Columbia Memorials. Challenger commander Dick Scobee's grave is just to the left of the Challenger memorial.
A statue of Albert Einstein is located in a grove of trees on the south lawn of the National Academy of Science. It is a short walk from the Vietnam Memorial but you won't find it unless you are looking for it. The concrete work in front of the statue contains a star chart. Extra points in the scavenger hunt if you can identify the significance of the three equations on the paper that he is holding. Metro: Foggy Bottom
Officially named the "Scientists and Technicians Window", this stained glass window commemorates America’s exploration of space and man’s first steps on the moon. In the upper center of the window is a 7.18-gram basalt lunar rock from the Sea of Tranquility.
The US Naval Observatory has several telescopes including a 26 inch refractor which was used to discover the moons of Mars in 1877. Public tours are given on alternate Monday evenings (but not during the week of the AMSAT Symposium). The observatory also maintains a collection of atomic clocks and serves as the Department of Defense reference standard for Precise Time and Time Interval. For the official US Naval Observatory time, call (202) 762-1401.
