October 25, 2010

The weather forecast had foreseen rain for today, so we decided it would be a good day for a museum. We got our car and headed for the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.

The museum was like the Intrepid museum’s big brother. Viktor and Adrian were ecstatic when they found out that they had simulators here also. They did a fighter pilot simulation where they flew together. They kept doing 360 degree turns all the time and it was great listening to their “wheeeee” screams.

We saw a real Space Shuttle, the famous Enterprise which never got to fly in space.

We saw a Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud. The first commercial airplane with a pressurized cabin:

They even had a concorde, as you can see in the background. Been there, done that. 🙂

They had a Boeing 707, the first commercial jetliner:

They also had the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the nuclear bomb over Hiroshima:

We spoke to the children about the horrors of the two nuclear weapons used in war and how they destroyed two cities.

Another SR-71 blackbird. This one set a speed record on its final flight. It was flown from Los Angeles to Washington DC in roughly 1 hour, 4 minutes and 19.89 seconds to become part of the museum:

The number of airplanes and space vessels on display was nothing short of overwhelming. Everything from the space shuttle to the very first motorized airplanes through to Gemini capsules and wodden self-assembled glider planes from the 1930s. Would you have flown in one of these?

There was also an IMAX theater where we saw the first movie to be recorded in the IMAX format. A movie about the history of aviation, made in 1976. Picture quality was extremely good. It was interesting to listen to the optimism of the future of space exploration being expressed back then. At that time, and I remember the spirit, everything was going in one direction. We would have a base on the moon soon and then we would conquer mars and go even further. Unfortunately things didn’t turn out that way and I think humanity is a little poorer because of it. Just a little bit of the money used on wars could have brought us a lot further in space.

In reference to yesterday’s comments about the challenges of getting healthy food here in the US: We were not allowed to bring food and drinks into the museum, and the cafeteria on site was a (drum roll) … Mc Donalds!

Around 4pm we were well filled up with chicken nuggets, fries, burgers and space and aviation history. We headed back to DC again and a session of school work for the kids.

The kids worked hard and after a late dinner they were allowed to see “Flushed Away” on the portable home cinema.

As promised, here is a little bit more about my cinema setup. The recent advances in miniaturization and pricing of portable speakers and projectors has made it possible to put a home cinema in your pocket for less than the cost of a low-end iPhone. Here is mine, packed away in the box my compact camera came in (pen added for scale):

An Optoma PK301projector coupled with a pair of iHome iHM79 speakers is a winning combination. The rest is cabling and the remote control for the projector. Here it is in action.

On this photo I’m powering it purely from battery packs. With batteries charged and a lightly colored wall I can do home cinema anywhere without mains electricity. The projector can be driven from an iPod Touch/iPhone or from a Mac/PC with VGA out.

Here is the result with an image size of about 70 inches diagonally.

The sound quality must be heard to be believed.

Backpacker with a home cinema. Cool, eh?

Eirik

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