Short answers, pulled from the story.
The National Air and Space Museum's main building on the National Mall opened on the 1st of July 1976, during the United States Bicentennial celebrations. It was directed at the time by Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut.
The museum displays Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright brothers' Wright Flyer, the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, and the Friendship 7 capsule flown by John Glenn, among others. Nearly all aircraft and spacecraft on display are original primary or backup craft rather than replicas.
In 2023, the National Air and Space Museum welcomed 3.1 million visitors. That figure made it the fourth-most visited museum in the United States and the eleventh-most visited in the world.
In March 1994, the museum's proposed exhibit on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan sparked outrage when its script was leaked by Air Force Magazine. Veterans' groups and members of Congress objected to language framing the Pacific War from both American and Japanese perspectives, leading to congressional script reviews and the eventual forced resignation of museum director Martin O. Harwit on the 2nd of May 1995.
A $360 million renovation of the National Mall building began in 2018. Earlier cost projections from 2016 had risen as high as $1 billion for a comprehensive project including construction, new storage, and new exhibits.
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located at Dulles International Airport and serves as the museum's 760,000 square-foot annex. It opened on the 15th of December 2003 and includes the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar for the museum's restoration and archival activities.