What was NASA’s science-and-technology exhibit called during the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial?

NASA’s science-and-technology exhibit during the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial was called Third Century America.

NASA staged the exhibit as part of the national celebration of the country’s transition into its third century. It was housed in a group of geodesic domes in the parking lot of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The presentation connected the Bicentennial’s historical theme with American research, engineering, and space exploration. The Vehicle Assembly Building was an especially fitting location: NASA used it to prepare large launch vehicles for the Apollo and later space programs.

The exhibit was one part of a much larger Bicentennial program. Other 1976 events included Operation Sail, nationwide parades and fireworks, the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife, and the opening of the National Air and Space Museum on July 1. Third Century America is sometimes confused with NASA’s later space-center visitor attractions, but it was specifically a 1976 Bicentennial exhibit.