The prospect of space tourism has been in the news ever since Burt Rutan’s privately built and operated SpaceShipOne won the X Prize by flying a sub orbital flight. Rutan seems to have paved the way for larger, more advanced vehicles that shortly will take paying passengers on the flight of a life time. But actual space tourism is a few years away and when it does begin to be a reality, trips will cost as much as a small house. Still, there are ways to be a space tourist here on Earth, while one waits for private business to open up the final frontier for the ultimate adventure vacation.

National Air and Space Museum

The Mecca for anyone interested in space exploration or aviation is the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Among the artifacts on display at the facility located on the Washington Mall are Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Flyer, the Bell X-1 rocket plane that Chuck Yeager flew to break the sound barrier, and the Apollo 11 command module that went to the Moon and back. An example of almost every aircraft or spacecraft is on display. The Washington Mall facility also has an IMAX theater as well as many other exhibits depicting the history of aviation and space exploration.

The National Air and Space Museum has an annex called the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport which contains thousands of more aviation and space artifacts. The collection includes the fully restored space shuttle Enterprise orbiter that was used for drop and landing tests during the 1970s and an SR 71 Blackbird used for high altitude reconnaissance during the Cold War.

In the near future, Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne will be added to the National Air and Space Museum collection.