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In addition to the new sciences, we must explain the new technology. What makes these machines fly, not only in our atmosphere but above it? How did we get, as Mr. Webb pointed out yesterday, from the surface of our planet which is spinning at a thousand miles an hour to the moon which is 240,000 miles away at speeds of up to 25,000 miles an hour and manage to land on a target which was itself moving several thousand miles an hour, and then repeat the process to return safely to earth? How was this done? Not only from the point of view of how did the machines work, but what was the matrix of human decisions which made this giant undertaking possible this past decade? 

Of course, we must also include in our new building a library, vastly expanded and converted into a bona fide Historical Research Center which could legitimately serve as a solid base for researchers, scholars, and, hopefully, teachers from the local community. In order for all these things to happen in time for the Bicentennial, we must have ample financial support in the near future. Timing is critical. We must have the construction funds in FY 1973 in order that we may begin moving exhibits into the building in 1975 to prepare for an opening on July 4, 1976.

Our key Bicentennial exhibit will take place in our Spacearium chamber and will be called the "Bicentennial of Flight." Its origins can be traced to 1776 when Joseph Priestly's work on air experiments was translated into French. Priestly's ideas started Montgolfier working with hot air and Charles working with hydrogen (which he called phlogiston), and their work, in turn, marked the beginning of man's conversion to a three-dimensional creature. By 1783 Ben Franklin was able to attend a balloon launching and when queried by as skeptic as to the value of this strange new device asked in turn, "of what value is a new born babe?"

The Bicentennial of Flight will trace this "babe's" development through Kitty Hawk, across the Atlantic with Lindbergh, and into the jet and space ages. The visitor will be present at a Gemini rendezvous, a landing on the surface of the moon, and, indeed, can be taken on the "grand tour" of the planets in our solar system.