Which museum opened its new Washington, D.C., home during the United States Bicentennial?

The National Air and Space Museum opened its new Washington, D.C., home during the United States Bicentennial.

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum opened to the public on July 1, 1976, just three days before the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Its location on the National Mall made it one of the most prominent new cultural attractions of the Bicentennial year.

The museum displays aircraft, spacecraft, engines, instruments, and artifacts documenting the history of flight and space exploration. Its collections include objects connected with major milestones such as the Wright brothers’ first powered flight and the Apollo missions.

The museum’s opening is sometimes mixed up with later Smithsonian projects, including the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport. That companion facility opened in 2003, whereas the original Mall building dates to 1976.