alain silberstein replica Breitling Orbiter 3 at National Air and Space Museum

Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard will deliver a free public lecture on their historic flight at 8pm in the Air and Space Museum’s Langley Theater on Friday, September 24. More information on attending the lecture. The Breitling Orbiter 3 was the first balloon to achieve an around the world, nonstop flight on March 20 of this year. The gondola, or crew compartment, will be placed in the museum’s Milestones of Flight gallery and will share a prominent place with other firsts in aviation such as the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module.

The Air and Space Museum acquired the Breitling Orbiter 3 through the foresight of the museum’s late director, retired Vice Adm. Donald D. Navy. Adm. Engen, 75, decided that the historic object would enhance the national collections, and he called Breitling in Switzerland asking that it be donated. Breitling agreed.

Adm. Engen once remarked that there was some parallel to the museum’s acquisition of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. In 1927 Paul Garber then a junior employee, later Historian Emeritus asked the Secretary of the Smithsonian Charles G. Abbott to send a telegram to Lindbergh at the US Embassy in Paris shortly after the landmark flight. Lindbergh agreed to donate the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution and flew the airplane to Washington in 1928. It hung in the Arts and Industries building until 1976 when it was moved to its new location in the National Air and Space Museum. The Museum’s artifact restoration facility in Suitland http://www.speedroc.com/replica-tag-heuer-formula-1-chronograph.html, Md. is now appropriately named the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility.

“We’re excited about acquiring the gondola, and I greatly admire Adm. Engen for doing what he did,” said Tom Crouch, the museum’s senior curator.

“The gondola is now in Lucerne at the Swiss Transport Museum,” said Crouch. “Our most immediate concern is that we get it back to the United States and then to Washington safely and expeditiously. We’ve got a lot of work to do before we can have the gondola ready for display in mid September,” said Crouch. It will then be transported by truck to the Air and Space Museum.

“The Breitling Orbiter 3 survived an around the world flight,” said Victor Govier, project coordinator. “Let’s just hope it survives American traffic and freeways!”

Constructed of Kevlar and carbon fiber, the gondola was a small but functional home for its two man crew http://www.speedroc.com/replica-omega-planet-ocean-46mm.html, Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and long time aviator fake hublot big bang uk, and Brian Jones, a former British Royal Air Force pilot, during their nearly 3 week voyage. Roughly the size of a small bus, it has a galley, a single bunk, a water heater and an ingenious pressure operated toilet. It also carried sufficient nitrogen and oxygen for four complete cabin pressurizations. The daily routine called for each man to spend eight hours alone at the controls replica cartier Santos 100, eight hours with his crewmate and eight hours of bunk time.

The balloon that hoisted the Breitling Orbiter 3 to altitude was built by Cameron Balloons of Bristol, England, and stands 180 feet tall.

The success of this craft’s mission was based on the lessons learned during two previous attempts to circumnavigate the globe in the Breitling Orbiter and Breitling Orbiter 2 in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Piccard and Jones are also scheduled to deliver a free public lecture on their historic flight at 8pm in the Air and Space Museum’s Langley Theater, September 24. Tickets for this lecture will be available through Protix Hight Quality Replica Cartier Roadster Chronograph Watches For Sale, Monday, August 16 by calling 1 800 529 2440. There is no charge from the Smithsonian for these tickets but service charges from Protix will apply.