Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall: SpaceShipOne and Bell X-1

SpaceShipOne and Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis” 

With SpaceShipOne, private enterprise crossed the threshold into human spaceflight, previously the domain of government programs. Bell X-1 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound in 1947. Both crafts are on display in the “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall” in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Eric Long / Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum