Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery: “Aerospace and Our Changing Environment”
Opening: July 28, 2025, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., Gallery 105
The new “Aerospace and Our Changing Environment” exhibition focuses on how aerospace innovations help people understand climate change while providing opportunities to mitigate and adapt to the problem through new technologies. Visitors learn how climate data is collected, monitored and analyzed. The exhibition also explores how aerospace innovations are advancing energy, agriculture and aviation to reduce people’s dependency on fossil fuels. “Aerospace and Our Changing Environment” explores the science of climate change and the efforts of individual and collective actions within aerospace industries to mitigate it.
This exhibition is presented in the Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery. This new dynamic space will feature exhibitions that rotate every 18–24 months and explore the different ways aerospace innovations are a central feature of contemporary life and are transforming the future.
Highlights include:
Pipistrel Velis Electro: The Velis is the first electric plane to be certified for normal operation. Its batteries provide up to one hour of flight time. That makes it suited for training and short sightseeing flights. Thirty nations have certified the two-seat Velis Electro for use on daytime flights in good weather.
Vega Balloon: In 1985, the Soviet Union’s Vega 1 and Vega 2 spacecraft each released a balloon probe like this replica into Venus’ atmosphere. Their instruments recorded climate data, including temperature, pressure and wind speed.
Apollo Raglan Sport Shirt: The Apollo Dress Shirt uses phase-change materials developed by NASA. These special materials keep people comfortable; they absorb heat when a person gets too warm and release heat when a person is cold. The shirt reduces the need for heating and air conditioning.
Yamaha RMax Helicopter Drone: Built in the 1990s, the RMax was one of the first agricultural drones. It can fly low to get close to crops, which allows farmers to reduce the amounts of pesticides they apply. Drones can also access areas where tractors cannot go.
AgEagle eBee Drone: The eBee fixed-wing drone provides a way to measure small-scale changes in landscapes. Using cameras and other remote sensing instruments, it can cover large areas in hours instead of days.
Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) Flight Spare: A similar instrument flew on Landsat 7 between 1999 and 2017. Administered by the U.S. Geological Survey, the instrument collected high-resolution images of land, water, ice and plant cover.
CFM Open Fan Engine: This open-fan engine design will help make low-carbon flight feasible. It can cut fuel use by 20%. It is being developed as part of a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran.
Sponsors: Amentum, GE Aerospace and Linde; founding support for the Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery is provided by The Hillside Foundation—Allan and Shelley Holt.
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SI-159-2025