BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 203: (b) Nation of Speed

DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 203: (b) Nation of Speed:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GAL203_221014_001.JPG: Nation of Speed The United States is a nation of speed. We have shaped our lives and our world by embracing technologies that shatter time and distance.
2. GAL203_221014_005.JPG: Connecting Our World The large size of the United States has motivated Americans to find faster ways to travel its vast distances. They've been driven by financial aims and also by larger ambitions that inspire people to invent time -- and distance -- shattering technologies to travel the country, the globe, and beyond.
3. GAL203_221014_016.JPG: 2001 NASA X-43A Scramjet
4. GAL203_221014_021.JPG: Ever Faster Why do we always try to reach faster speeds?
5. GAL203_221014_024.JPG: Toy Cars
6. GAL203_221014_025.JPG: Kids Play with Fast Toys
7. GAL203_221014_037.JPG: 1959 Chevrolet Corvette
8. GAL203_221014_041.JPG: Train Wrecks and Crossing Collisions
9. GAL203_221014_042.JPG: Casey Jones' Grave Marker Casey Jones' heroism was memorialized with a popular ballad and a stone marker that replaced this wooden cross, his original grave marker.
10. GAL203_221014_047.JPG: Casey Jones Running fast trains on a single track caused many collisions. On April 30 ,1900, Illinois Central engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones was running locomotive 382 at about 70 mph (113 km/h). When he realized a freight train was on the same track, he slowed to less than 50 mph (80 km/h) before striking the train. He saved the passengers' lives but lost his own.
11. GAL203_221014_049.JPG: Train Wrecks and Crossing Collisions Trains speeded travel but introduced the risk of injury and death. Railroad cars derailed and overturned, locomotives struck other trains, and automobiles and trains collided at grade crossings.
12. GAL203_221014_051.JPG: Across the Water
13. GAL203_221014_053.JPG: Take a Closer Look!
14. GAL203_221014_055.JPG: Why Knot? A knot is the unit of speed used for ships and aircraft. It's based on the circumference of the Earth and navigational maps. A knot is shorthand for nautical miles per hour. A nautical mile is slightly longer than a mile. 1 knot = 1.15 mph = 1.9 km/h
15. GAL203_221014_057.JPG: Find the knots on the rope. Measuring the speed of ships started with actual knots! Sailors used to tie knots at equal distances on a rope, then tie a marker ("log") at the end and toss it off the back of the ship. As the ship moved forward, the length of rope was pulled into the water. Sailors counted the number of knots that went overboard during a fixed time period to calculate the ship's speed.
16. GAL203_221014_061.JPG: Changing the Waterways
17. GAL203_221014_065.JPG: Coastal Trade
18. GAL203_221014_073.JPG: Rocket Sled, Sonic Wind I This is the Sonic Wind 1 rocket sled, which was powered by nine solid fuel rockets with 40,000 pounds total thrust for five seconds. Air Force Lt. Col. John Stapp first rode the sled on March 19, 1954, at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, and reached a speed of 613 feet per second. During acceleration, he was subjected to a force of 22 times that of gravity (22 g's). He made his second run on the sled on August 20, 1954 attaining a speed of 735 feet per second. On December 10, 1954, he made his last and most notable ride on the sled reaching a speed of 632 miles per hour. Stapp underwent a force of 40 g's, the highest g force any human had endured to that time. The sled rides helped determine the effects of extreme acceleration on the human body, data that was very useful in aerospace medicine. The sled was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1966 by the U.S. Air Force.
19. GAL203_221014_074.JPG: "Fastest Man on Earth" Time magazine proclaimed Stapp's achievement on the cover of the September 12, 1955, issue.
20. GAL203_221014_076.JPG: Making Speed Safer: John Stapp
21. GAL203_221014_079.JPG: Speed and the Cold War
22. GAL203_221014_085.JPG: 1960s Mark 4 Reentry Vehicle
23. GAL203_221014_087.JPG: In the Air
24. GAL203_221014_089.JPG: On the Road
25. GAL203_221014_090.JPG: The Quest for Safer Cars
26. GAL203_221014_093.JPG: Auto Racing in America
27. GAL203_221014_101.JPG: 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750
28. GAL203_221014_109.JPG: The Spectacle of Speed
29. GAL203_221014_112.JPG: Evel Knieval Stunt Cycle with Figure and Launcher
30. GAL203_221014_128.JPG: Speed Shop
31. GAL203_221014_132.JPG: Paving Bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway The original crushed stone and tar surface of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway broke up during races. In 1909, more than three million bricks replaced the older surface. The Speedway's nickname, "The Brickyard," has endured despite its current asphalt pavement.
32. GAL203_221014_137.JPG: 2012 BMW S 1000 RR
33. GAL203_221014_144.JPG: 1907 Curtiss V-8
34. GAL203_221014_148.JPG: Motorcycle, Curtiss V-8 Before achieving fame in aeronautics, Glenn Curtiss started his career with motorcycles. The early aviation community began to seek out Curtiss because of his growing reputation for designing powerful, lightweight motorcycle engines. In 1906 he designed his first V-8 engine in response to several requests from early aeronautical experimenters. As a manufacturer and racer of motorcycles, it was only natural for Curtiss to wonder how fast he could move on a motorcycle with his V-8. He instructed his workers to construct a frame that could support the weight of the engine. The Curtiss V-8 was air-cooled, producing approximately 30 to 40 horsepower at 1,800 rpm. The motorcycle used direct drive because a conventional chain-and-belt transmission could not withstand the power of the massive engine. Curtiss took the motorcycle to the Florida Speed Carnival at Ormond Beach in January 1907. He recorded a record-setting speed of 218 kph (136 mph) during his run. He was dubbed "the fastest man on Earth."
35. GAL203_221014_155.JPG: 1984 Pontiac No. 43
36. GAL203_221014_161.JPG: NASCAR
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Description of Subject Matter: Nation of Speed
October 14, 2022 – Permanent
Featuring iconic vehicles from Mario Andretti’s Indy 500 winning race car to the Sharp DR 90 Nemesis, Nation of Speed paints a portrait of human ingenuity -- the technology developed to propel people faster and faster -- and explores how the pursuit of speed has shaped American culture and our national identity.
Nation of Speed is presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 203: (b) Nation of Speed) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2023_DC_SIAIR_Gall203B: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 203: (b) Nation of Speed (9 photos from 2023)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(Smithsonian) Air and Space Museum (Everything)] [(Smithsonian) Air and Space Museum (Non-Events)] [Museums (History)]
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