Image: NASM - The Wright EX, powered by a 35hp engine, carried enough fuel for 3 1/2 hours flying time.

My favorite museum haunt in DC will probably always be the NASM on the mall. The new one out at Dulles is bigger and full of cool planes, but the original building houses some of my favorites, including the Bell X1, an X-15, and now SpaceShipOne. I took my 10 year old nephew there recently and had an interesting reaction to the different ages of flying. While SpaceShipOne feels like it came out of early Buck Rodgers, the earliest planes somehow seemed very contemporary. And I think I know why.

(Source: SFRevu)