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[[underlined]] NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM EXTENSION [[underlined]]

In introducing the following report, Secretary Adams discussed with the Regents impressions he had gained in meeting with Governors Baliles and Schaefer. He noted that while both governors had a high degree of personal interest in locating the extension in their respecitve states, it was clear that the kind of support to be offered from Virginia would be markedly different from that foreseen to be offered from Maryland. Reflecting the resources at their disposal, the former will likely offer a good deal of land for present and future uses but not a significant amount of direct financial support, while the latter will likely offer major funding at the outset but be constrained from offering comparable acreage. Both governors embraced the prospect of establishing a multipurpose interdisciplinary facility which would go well beyond serving only the needs of the National Air and Space Museum. In discussion it was noted that a contract with an A/E firm should be signed within three weeks, and it is expected that the firm's report on site selection, together with the staff's financial feasibility study, will be ready for the Regents' consideration at their September 1989 meeting. 

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The Smithsonian staff evaluation panel has recently completed its review of A/E proposals and has developed a "short list" of firms for interviews during the month of January. The selected firm will develop information on the Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Washington Dulles Airport sites, determined by studies and analyses, for presentation to the Board of Regents at its September 1989 meeting. Smithsonian staff and consultants will conduct financial feasibility studies concurrently and the results of those investigations also will be presented to the Regents in September.

In late December and early January the Secretary and National Air and Space Museum Director Martin Harwit traveled to Richmond and Annapolis for separate luncheon meetings with Governors Baliles and Schaefer. Equally productive, the meetings provided Messrs. Adams and Harwit with an opportunity to present to the Governors the broad outlines of both the work to be undertaken by the A/E firm and the conceptual planning which has been