Director's Message

Portrait shot of a man in a suit standing in front of aircraft in a museum setting.
  

In fall 2022, we welcomed the world back to our flagship building on the National Mall in Washington, DC, with eight amazing new galleries, plus completely renovated public spaces, planetarium, store, and new Mars Café. It marked the completion of the first phase of our complete Transformation of the museum building and was an immediate hit with visitors. New exhibits, new artifacts along with old favorites, new interactives, and most importantly new stories of all the those behind the history of air and space are how we use these reimagined spaces to inspire the next generation of innovators, researchers and explorers. 

At the same time, our Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center saw visitors return in strong numbers as the pandemic eased and they learned of the remarkable collection there. And, we continued to expand our digital offerings to share the wonders of aviation and space flight everywhere any time. All of this was only possible due to the work of our curators, researchers, exhibits team, education specialists, visitor services team, digital and communications team, and those who care for, preserve and conserve our world-renowned collection. This report shares just a portion of their great work, and we all hope you’ll visit us in-person or online to see it for yourself. 

Christopher Browne 
John and Adrienne Mars Director 
Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum 

2022 Annual Report