RTR Blog: Andrew's Away Mission to the Smithsonian (TOS Enterprise Model)

Sometimes in life, luck just shines down upon you! Back in 2014, I was on a short weekend trip to Washington D.C; I did all of the things that one would do on a weekend away in the US Capital. I went to the white house, saw the Nationals play and bounced around the National Mall attempting to see as many museums and galleries as I could.



On the last day, with only a few hours left to explore, I overheard a a person say they needed to check out the gift shop of the Smithsonian, because that's where the Enterprise display was. Originally I thought that they were talking about the NASA Orbiter Vehicle, which of course, was famously named "Enterprise" after hundreds of thousands of trekkers wrote in asking for it to be named after the famous ship from Star Trek. I immediately changed my plans and b-lined it to the Smithsonian.

       When I got there, I headed down the escalator to the thrift shop and started thinking that it was far too small of a space to realistically fit a space shuttle (it turns out it was at the Smithsonian, but was moved to the the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum in NY city in 2011). That's because it wasn't the ship named after the TOS Enterprise, it WAS the TOS Enterprise!! Call is fate, call it luck, call it happenstance; regardless I have never been so happy to overhear a random guy talking and perk up when I heard a Star Trek related word. Now giddy with excitement, I took 15-20 minutes to just bask in all it's glory! It first and foremost was much larger than I would have guessed it would be (it's 2' x 5' and over 200lbs!), but at the same time looks exactly like it did on the TV show. Sometimes when you meet your hero's or visit filming locations of your favourite shows, it is a let down, this most certainly was not. I didn't grow up on the Original Series nor am I the biggest TOS fan, but it is hard not to feel a certain level of magic when you are standing next to such an iconic prop/ship! I found myself thinking of the engineers, electricians, astronauts etc, that were inspired to work on the Enterprise I was expecting to see, because of being wowed by the Enterprise I was standing in front of. As a star trek fan, this is a must see if you are in Washington D.C. It's a beautiful model of a bygone era, that for a lot of people is still the gold standard in ship design. If you're ever there, stop by the Smithsonian, the model is now located in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall now!

For MORE Star Trek goodness check out Matt and I's recent review of the Enterprise episode "North Star" at https://bit.ly/2HZrfJA