Live on Bloomberg TV

00:00It's wonderful to see everything behind the scenes here and what is still to happen. Pretty amazing to think this building opened in 1976. Three hundred and fifty million people have walked through the doors here. I was one of them as a young kid. It's known as a sanctuary. The iconic displays the sense of history that it brings. So what's scarier, landing in F 14 on the deck of an aircraft carrier at night or reinvigorating one of the most busy museums in the world? Well, I think the bigger task, quite frankly, is really envisioning this national treasure for the future. I mean, it's we know its impact. We've just said that it's influenced you. I came here in 1977, a year after opening. I was 19 years old and I was really struck by the DC 3 above us because that was an aircraft I had flown in as a small child. And so I made that connection and that that led to my professional life in aviation. So we know the power of the place. Not as scary as landing at night on a ship, but very, very the level of stress might be approaching that. It's interesting to think that this wing has been closed since before Covid 2018. You said when it reopened recently, the real measure of success will be when visitors return home and say, you must see this. Is that already happening? Absolutely. We're getting about 5000 visitors a day and we've had really good feedback both through the media and through our visitors. And I think part of it is because it's 40, almost 50 percent, the artifacts in the museum today are here for the first time. And we're able to expand the storytelling in a way that the other measure of success is. We hope that everybody coming into this museum, however they present whatever they look like, wherever they come from, they will be able to see themselves in the stories and the artifacts, just as I did in 1977. It's not lost on me that one of the big talkers here is this X wing fighter from the Star Wars movies. Obviously, it is not an operational aircraft or a piece of history the way some of these other exhibits are. But it speaks to the vision that you have in connecting fantasy with innovation. What's that lesson for young people? Well, it starts with an idea. And then there's that moment of inspiration and it can come any number of ways. So, for instance, if you go into our Destination Moon Gallery, we tell the true story of Apollo. You'll see games and some of the things that the young astronauts were influenced by as children. So we know the iconic value or the influential value of these artifacts. And I've taken some heat for the swings. People said it's never flown. It's why is it Air and Space Museum? And I I remind folks, I said, well, we have six thousand paintings that never flew. So it's really a question of meeting our audiences where they are. What is it that connects to them that resonates? And we know that the power of the excellent fighter does that for a lot of our audience, that a lot of competition for eyeballs and interest rate. If you're trying to appeal to kids who were on tick talk and social media and have the attention span of a 10 second video. So I'm guessing this actually helps to bridge that divide. It does. And I think that what we really hold dear at the Smithsonian and certainly here at this museum is a commitment to authenticity and accuracy. So that when you come here, whether it's in person or virtually, this is the real deal. And so sometimes some of the other media and influences in our lives can't lay that claim. And so it's really important that we hold to that, because it's not just the artifacts and the how real they are and authentic. It's the stories, the people stories behind them. There are amazing stories all around us, including that of the Apollo mission. The Apollo 11 capsule is something that reminds us of the harsh environment that is space. As you and I sit here in Orion, space capsule is orbiting the moon. How much do current events drive your vision for the museum? Well, very much so. I mean, very folks often think of museums having a retrospective look. And so it begs the question, why is why do we have a gallery dedicated to the Apollo missions? What's its relevance? Why? And other than the fact that it was just an amazing story. You know, the president just a few months ago, I think, use the term moon shot. So what is moonshot mean to a generation today that was not alive during Apollo? Most of the people coming into that gallery today will not have been alive to see the launches of the Saturn 5 and the Apollo Air. And I think the relevance and the reason we tell that Apollo story really gets down to four elements. One is, you know, to take on a big challenge and to solve problems, you need a strong vision. Certainly Kennedy articulated that you need a commitment of national resource. Four hundred thousand Americans, millions of dollars working on. You need a tolerance for risk. You have to be willing to take chances and then you have to have that human ingenuity that I think is often under estimated. And when you put those things together with the Apollo missions demonstrated as you can do incredible things. So fast forward. How does that play out with climate change and curing cancer and some of these seemingly intractable problems? I walked through that gallery and say, no, we can't solve problems. A seven year project, I believe, in total. Yes. This is a huge undertaking. Does it have a price tag? It does. This is an investment both by the citizens of this country. Their taxes have paid for seven hundred and twenty nine million dollars of rebuilding this building, as you noted earlier. It's had a lot of wear and tear since it first opened over 40 years ago. But importantly, the actual galleries, the look and feel like this gallery is financed privately and through our corporate and individual benefactors. People that have trust in us and have given us their treasure, their donations to fill finish this project. And that equates to over two hundred fifty million two hundred and fifty million dollars a a full time fund raiser as well. Indeed. But I remind myself, people don't give to me. They give to this museum and the stories that we're telling. And because they're so impactful and they're so relevant to developing the workforce for tomorrow, how do we start that process? Through a point of inspiration with the young learner. We play it out in these galleries and saw our our corporate partners, our individual partners, they recognize the power of this place and how it can influence in a positive way our future. Well, there's a lot to be said there. How important, then, in the grand scheme are corporate donations? What does that breakdown versus other funding that you're getting from the government or elsewhere? Well, the project in its entirety, about three quarters, is government funded. And what that does allow us is free entry. So the Smithsonian museums are free to the American public and to our international visitors, which is really quite substantial. That's important for folks that travel overseas to visit other museums. That's not the case. And then a quarter, as I said, over 250 million dollars of privately donated funds that have really allowed us to tell these stories. So it's a I suppose in a way, a public private partnership. But without that corporate and individual giving, we could not we wouldn't be here sitting in this gap. I'm compelled by your story, your personal story, your career. Three hundred and fifteen traps, more than five hundred fifteen hundred hours flying the F 14 Tomcat, this iconic fighter plane that that is just sort of has its own cult following now. You went on to be the manager of Dulles Airport, Reagan National Airport, the director here at the Air and Space Museum. But you've said in conversations that in flight school you experience something called they believe it's a flight down. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You actually failed the equivalent of a certain exercise that that you needed to pass in your training. I just wonder how much that influenced your approach to your career or your trajectory after that. Well, it's very humbling to be told that you failed in something you've worked hard at. But I think what it does is it's a real test of character to decide, you know, how invested are you in what it is you're doing and just with exploration, with Apollo, with all these stories. There was failure along the way and you learn from your failures. It's always important not to repeat the failures, but to learn from them, but to think that we're going to do incredible things either at a level like this museum, land a person on the moon or in my case, learn to fly an aircraft on and off a carrier. Failure is part of that process because it's not it doesn't come easily. And so it serves as a motivator. And to some folks, they're going to turn away from it and quit. And I think certainly my experience in Navy was, no, that's when you double down or we get that would have been a washout moment for a lot of people. But you could also argue that it's an essential component to your success. Well, it certainly was very formative. My time in the Navy absolutely was an extremely formative period of my life. It plays out professionally and personally in subsequent careers. And even here, in terms of decision making, you know, flying an aircraft very often you don't have all the information you would like in order to make a decision. It's a very dynamic environment. You can't sort of hit pause and stop. And so you've got to keep going. You got to make decisions and you have to often make decisions in that space where it's not really comfortable. Because, boy, you wish you had more information. But that's the reality of it. And you have to be comfortable in that space. And so that flying there are a lot of similarities, to be honest, between flying in the Navy and what it is I do today, except I didn't say that when I left, when I retired from the airports authority in managing airports. I said I left a place where the planes move and people are irate and came to the place where the planes sit still and people are happy. So it's not that seems like a big upgrade. I have to admit. But it's also your decision making, your process. When you were in an F 14, you decided to eject from a burning aircraft at night over the ocean. And walk away from it or swim away from it, I guess in your case, that thought process can be applied in a lot of different ways. Well, it goes back to, for instance, training. There's nothing heroic about bailing out ejecting from a burning aircraft. But the process leading up to it and recovering from it. There is something heroic if you save your crew member. Yes, that's true. But in our case, it's you know, the plane was on fire. It's time to get out. And as I said, give it back to the taxpayers. But, you know, and live to fight another day. But I mean, it really instilled in me an appreciation for the training. The Navy, in my case, wasn't going to ask you to do something that they hadn't prepared you for. And so it was a great lesson in preparing and training to those situations. And then also being acknowledged that it's expect the unexpected. You know, when we started that flight, we didn't expect that aircraft to catch fire, but we had to respond to it. And it was essentially our training that allowed us to do it. Feeling ever kick in when you're in crisis mode here? Oh, absolutely. And in fact, I was the airport manager at Reagan during 9/11. And there's a lot of that came into play. And, you know, we talk in decision making often about compartmentalizing and being able to focus on the issue at hand and not be distracted by other elements. And there's a scene in the original Tom Keene movie. You may recall some of your viewers where cougars coming into the carrier and he's not you know, he's all kind of scoop and they flash to a picture of his family on the CAC. Well, those of us from flying in the Navy. That's utter nonsense. You don't allow that to intercede into the cockpit. You would never you'd never put the picture of the families in the office. No, it's it's all business. And so it made for good Hollywood. But it doesn't acknowledge the effort that goes into, in this case, flying an aircraft where you have to be completely focused without distraction.

No schedule data available.

Reopened National Air and Space Museum Highlights Tech’s Power

Bloomberg TV's Joe Mathieu sits down with the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum's director Christopher Browne for a behind-the-scenes look at the newly re-opened DC institution. Parts have been completely closed since January 2019 and BTV has an inside view of the new exhibits. (Source: Bloomberg)