In June 1991,  Dr.
Jeffrey Bennett, an astronomer from the University of Colorado,
Boulder (CU Boulder) proposed placement of a Scale Model of
the Solar System on the National Mall to Martin Harwit, then
Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space
Museum. Jeff had overseen the construction and installation
of a one to 10-billion scale model on the CU Boulder campus
in 1987, and thought the National Mall would be a great place
to share the experience with a national, even international
audience.
Jeff had dedicated his professional life to the public’s
understanding of Earth’s place in the greater cosmos,
and of the scientific endeavor. In 1991 Jeff was on assignment
to NASA Headquarters’ Office of Space Science in Washington,
D.C., where among other things he created the NASA
IDEAS program, which engaged researchers in educational
programming, and approached the Museum about a Mall exhibition.
Jeff is a national force in science education. I encourage
you to visit his web
site.
As an astrophysicist in the Museum’s Laboratory for
Astrophysics at the time, I was given the assignment of assessing
Jeff’s request, likely because I had used Solar System
and other models for many years to get audiences of all ages
to comprehend Earth’s place in space, and the greater
majesty of the Universe. The power of a model to educate,
and to change one’s perspective in the most fundamental
of ways, is remarkable. I didn’t need to be convinced
of such a Voyage on the Mall.
A model Solar System exhibition could also include imagery
and text that could provide the visitor a real sense of what
we knew about these worlds. Imagery from the spacecraft that
we built and sent to study these worlds would not only inform,
but also serve as a testament to our capacity to leave our
tiny world and explore.
If done well, the exhibition could also serve as a laboratory
for exploration, with inquiry-based activities that allow
visitors to explore the real Solar System as a model, just
as a map of your state or a globe of the Earth— both
powerful models—allow you to study the real thing.
The exhibition could also be immersed in community-wide programming
for students, families, educators, and the public, with real
planetary scientists and engineers given opportunities to
tell their personal stories of exploration, what inspired
them, and the pathway they took to becoming an explorer.
In  essence,
Voyage could be a gift to the next generation, helping
students understand what we know about our place in space
and how we’ve come to know it, and inspiring the next
generation of explorers.
Voyage on the Mall would also be precedent setting:
an educational exhibition extending the Smithsonian experience
outdoors, and after hours; a pan-institutional exhibition
footprint extending across many Smithsonian Museums, and a
visitor’s guide that could connect the exhibition to
relevant artifacts not just in the National Air and Space
Museum but in all the museums; a presence on the Mall for
science education and the nation’s efforts in the exploration
of space; and a design allowing replication and permanent
installation at sites world-wide.
And so my long involvement with this project began in 1991
when I was asked to spearhead making the exhibition a reality.
It quickly turned into a labor of love, though one immersed
in the politics of a multi-organizational effort to permanently
place a highly visible exhibition on the National Mall.
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