National Air and Space Museum

This is the world's most visited museum, attracting 9 million people annually to the world's largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. Its 23 galleries tell the story of aviation from the earliest human attempts at flight to supersonic jets and spacecraft. Look up to see the world's most famous aircrafts: Hovering above is the Wright 1903 Flyer, which Wilbur Wright piloted over the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis; the X-1 rocket plane in which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier; an X-15, the first aircraft to exceed Mach 6; and the Lockheed Vega that Amelia Earhart piloted in 1932: it was the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman. You can touch the displayed 4-billion-year-old slice of moon rock collected by Apollo 17 astronauts.

Strap into a flight simulator, walk through a model of the Skylab orbital workshop, and learn about the history of flight and the scientific study of the universe from the permanent exhibitions. Immerse yourself in space by taking in an IMAX film or a planetarium presentation. The movies employ swooping aerial scenes that make you feel as if you've left the ground. For more giant jets and spaceships, visit the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, at Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia. A shuttle bus runs from the museum entrance on the Mall to the outdoor center, where you can see a Concorde, the space shuttle Enterprise, and the Enola Gay (which in 1945 dropped on Japan the first atomic devices to be used in war).

Buy IMAX Theater and plantetarium tickets up to two weeks in advance or as soon as you arrive (times and prices vary); then tour the museum. Free docent-led tours leave daily at 10:30 and 1 from the museum's Welcome Center. The three-story museum store is the largest in all the Smithsonian museums, and one of the best. Along with souvenirs, books, and collectors items, it also displays a model of the USS Enterprise, used in the filming of the first Star Trek television series.