But even before the Smithsonian opened it was collecting stuff like 20 beautiful kites from the Chinese commission. After WWI it added a new exhibit called the Tin House. Then in 1946 the president signed a bill that the Air and Space Museum to remember the history of air-crafts and flight. The museum was approved in 1971 and construction began on November 20, 1972. The museum was finished on America's bicentennial July 1, 1976, which was two days before the anniversary of the Wright brothers first flight. Even before space flight was made possible, they had a collection of spacecraft and rockets. The director of the building was an astronaut of the Apollo 11. This museum was unbelievably popular with 5 million visitors in the first 6 months. This exhibit is still one of the most visited in the world. The Air and Space museum has more than 150 aircraft and other things like rockets, missiles, satellites, and spacecrafts. The museum also has new exhibits coming in and stuff always being switched around so there is always something new to see each time you visit. One interesting fact is that the museum started with just a collection of 20 kites but has grown to have more than 60,000 objects. As the number of items grew, it could not all fit in the museum space. A lot of the collection is displayed in the museum, but even more is stored in different hangars and facilities. Some of the stuff like engines and …show more content…
About two years after Lincoln was assassinated, Congress started the Lincoln Monument Association with the goal of building a memorial. It was not until 1901 that the location of the memorial was selected, and it took another 10 years for funding to build the huge structure. In 1911, Congress approved 2 million dollars to build the memorial. President William Howard authorized the memorial but it took 11 years to complete. The materials to build the monument came from all over the world. The Lincoln Memorial is a national landmark west of the national mall. The memorial was designed by Henry Bacon and modeled after Greek temples. The monument stands 100 feet tall and 190 feed wide. It has 36 columns for each of the 36 states in the Union when Lincoln died. Inside the temple is a 19 foot tall Lincoln sitting in a chair. This statue of Lincoln weighs 175