Washington has a date worth circling on the calendar: on October 30, 2026, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum opens At Home in Space, the final gallery of its monumental 50th-anniversary transformation.
The immersive and highly interactive exhibition takes visitors on a journey of more than 40 years of learning how humans can live and work in space continuously, and venture beyond Earth’s orbit. Stories and artifacts from the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and the Artemis program bring that adventure to life, with lead curator Dr. Jennifer Levasseur guiding the vision.
The opening crowns an eight-year project that reimagined all 20 of the museum’s exhibition spaces. The museum first opened its doors on July 1, 1976, as a gift to the nation for the U.S. bicentennial, and the community raised more than $285 million to transform it, adding 1,400 new objects to the displays.
The celebration starts a day early: on October 29, the museum hosts At Home in Space: Stories from ISS Astronauts from 8 to 9 pm, in person and online. Admission is always free (timed-entry passes are required), and the museum is open daily from 10 am to 5:30 pm at 650 Jefferson Drive SW on the National Mall.
And there is more on the horizon: a second new gallery, Modern Military Aviation, follows on Veterans Day, November 11.
Photo: Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
