three hours of our coverage. you'll hear from the museum's director general jack daley as well as air and space historians as we tour one-of-a-kind artifacts in the museum's collection. and you can watch the museum's signature event celebrating the anniversary. this is american history tv only on c-span 3. >>> you're looking at live pictures inside the smithsonian national air and space museum located on the washington mall on washington, d.c. today july 1 marking 40 years since president gerald ford was on hand back in 1976 to dedicate this museum, since then, more than 320 million visitors have come here and to the museum's second location just outside of washington, d.c. near dulles airport. together, more than eight million visitors come here combined, making these two museums the most popular in the u.s. we'll be live during the next two and a half hours leading up to our coverage of the museum's 40th anniversary celebration. we'll look at the one-of-a-kind artifacts located here and a chance for you to call in and share your comments with the curators, the people who acquire and

general jack daley. >> caller: geechb, general, and semmer phi. >> hoorah! >> caller: i have a question. last year, the movie about gary powers being shot down in his u 2 spy plane was a big hit with tom hanks. i understand the remains of that spy plane are still in the soviet -- the former soviet union. what are the possibilities of getting that from the russians so that it can be -- it can be implemented into the program there at the museum? >> wayne, thank you. >> yeah, we -- of course we have a u 2 on display here in this building. but i'm not familiar with any efforts to recover the wreckage. but that would have been part of a state department negotiation afterwards. and of course it was an embarrassment to the country because we had denied that we were overflying russia at that time. so as i say, i know of no plans. and i'm not sure that -- by the way, we couldn't take it if we got it because we don't have room for us. >> let's go to bill, our last call, from new york. go ahead, bill. >> caller: hello general dailey, thank you for taking my call. my dad used to work for g

billionaire philanthropist david rubenstein. >> going, ladies and gentlemen. i'm jack daley, director of the smithsonian national air and space museum. it's my great pleasure to welcome to you 13th annual john glenn lecture series. it quickly became one of our more annual events. our program this evening will feature a historic conversation between a legendary space pioneer and a visionary rocket entrepreneur. in addition to those of you lucky enough to secure tickets, many more will be watching on a live webcast. which also will be in our archives. if you want to review it some time in the future. senator glenn couldn't be with using tonight but he sends his best regards. his accomplishment as astronaut and statesman is a great motivation for us. mr. david rubenstein, co-founder and co-ceo of the carlisle group, region of the smithsonian will be tonight agencies moderator. mr. jeff bezos is founder of amazon.com and blue origin and here to discuss what will take to unlock space flight for everyone every where. and general michael collins who once held what some have called the best job

general jack daley is the person who began our coverage. he will kick off the 40th anniversary celebration. we're going take it back outside. we'll also hear from mike collins in a video presentation, former astronaut and first director of this museum as it celebrates its 40th birthday. >> we could have closed the museum. but we're staying open. still going to be able to come in and see things. to learn about some of the artifacts. one of the things we're hoping to deal with is once galleries start to close, we're going to -- artifacts that you may not be able to see on display. >> oh, i think they're getting ready to start. >> enjoy the show. ♪ >> aviation is america's story. we went from the first powered controlled man flight to walking on the moon 66 years. >> the air and space museum shows you exactly that history. >> everything that we have has a special significance to the development of aviation and space in this country. >> i came and saw this aircraft. i remember it so well as a small boy. my father explaining to me what it was. it was the first airplane to ever fly