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Each day this week until September 11, the National Museum of American History is displaying artifacts recovered from the horrific crash of United Airlines Flight 93 a decade ago in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, along with more than 50 objects from the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

Helena Wright, the museum’s curator of graphic arts, describes the sensitivity guiding the artifacts’ collection and preservation. “Shortly after the attacks, we began discussing what our role as a museum should be, and concluded that we had a responsibility to document the events of September 11 in the National Collections,” said Wright. “The immediacy and deadly nature of the events posed particular collecting challenges. We worried about appearing ghoulish in the face of bereavement, about important material deteriorating or even being thrown out, and about whether we understood enough about the events to document them for posterity. And we knew we would have to be selective—we cannot collect everything.”

The exhibit includes personal items from some of the seven crew and 33 passengers who perished when a terrorist hijacking ended with the airliner plunging to the ground. One of the artifacts is a tattered but still readable personal log carried by flight attendant Lorraine Bay, who had been working in the first-class section.

Vertical Speed Indicator

Among the most arresting artifacts were those recovered from the aircraft itself, frozen in time at the second of impact. A bright orange call button ripped from a ceiling panel (above) is slightly charred. The aircraft’s vertical speed indicator lies mangled and marred.

The Smithsonian Channel has produced a 46-minute video to present the moving stories behind its collection, while the American History museum considers its exhibit a work in progress, and invites additional donations of artifacts and information from the public.

National Aviation Day coffee mug, from Cafe Press.

You may have noticed the U.S. flag flying on a federal building today, but chances are it was on the pole yesterday, too. Or perhaps you woke feeling the need for “appropriate exercises to further stimulate interest in aviation,” which many of us consider part of our routine. At least today, though, you’ve got President Franklin Roosevelt and Orville Wright to thank. Orville was born this day in 1871, and in 1939, Roosevelt issued a national proclamation to designate August 19 as National Aviation Day.

The National Park Service kicks off appropriate exercises at 9:00 this morning at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina, with a full day of stimulation beginning with a Junior Flight Ranger program and including a noontime chat and book-signing of The Bishop’s Boys by National Air and Space Museum curator Tom Crouch.

Orville, about the time of the national proclamation. Photo: Library of Congress

Candles burn for Orville across the continent. National Aviation Day at the Alaska Aviation Museum brings a 10 percent discount off anything from the gift store; a moonlight helicopter ride and barbecue for charity at the Craig Airport in Jacksonville, FL; a pilot meet-n-greet in Davenport IA; and the chance to earn an Aerospace Merit Badge in Harrisburg, PA. You can fly an egg-carton glider at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton.

Dusting off Orville Wright for his birthday, and a new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Photo: Courtesy of the News-Observer

Orville’s first flight was only 120 feet, but with this much ground to cover, you’ll need a long-range private jet. Find one at JetRequest, which is offering special rates for the day.

If all this exercise is too much stimulation, finish your coffee and get back in bed. Especially if you’re in Canada, where you’ve already missed the day by months.

By Ismael Roman, third place, category 3 (14 to 17 year olds).

Each year, the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) and the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) organize an art contest meant to encourage young people to become familiar with (and participate in) aeronautics, engineering, and science.

“The quality of the art we see is unbelievable,” says Dik Daso, who has been a judge for the past five years. Daso, a curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, along with two other judges, selected nine first-, second-, and third-place winners from approximately 170 state finalists.

The theme of this year’s contest was the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight, and more than 6,800 students from 24 states participated in the U.S. competition. (Students first compete at the state level; each state aviation organization then sends its finalists to NASAO.)  The artwork of the U.S. winners (who range in age from 6 to 17 years old) will be entered in the international aviation art contest, held in Lausanne, Switzerland this month.

For those states that do not hold a competition, students and teachers were able—for the first time—to send submissions to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Arizona campus, which then grouped submissions by state. “What’s interesting,” says Kathryn Solee, president of the NASAO Center for Aviation Research and Education, “is that New Jersey sent over 400 pieces of art to Embry-Riddle, and had two national winners.”

By Nolan Riggin, first place, category 1 (6 to 9 year olds).

“100 years ago, your great-great-grandparents read about traveling through space in science fiction books,” reads the contest brochure. “50 years ago, your grandparents listened [to] the radio or watched on television when the first human orbited the earth, and today you can watch a small crew of astronauts from around the world share living and research quarters on the International Space Station on your laptop computer….  Time to grab your favorite paintbrush or markers, buckle up into a secure position in front of your desk, and blast off into your imagination…”

By Brian Sun, second place, category 2 (10 to 13 years old).

Through a process of elimination, each judge argues for his or her favorite pieces. Since the winning artwork will be made into posters, “you look for themes that have public appeal,” says Daso, “in addition to artistic skill.”

Daso’s interest in the competition goes beyond enjoying the artwork, however. “I’m very excited to see young people getting involved, really involved with aviation topics,” says Daso.

By Karen Ahn, first place, category 2 (10 to 13 year olds).

Okay, I date myself to the 80s with that one. But those of us born prior to the last two decades will remember the verbal welcome that Norm Peterson received each time he entered the bar, Cheers, on the TV show of the same name.

Well, Norm Augustine gets almost that welcome wherever he shows up. On Friday, March 12, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin and the chairman of last year’s presidentially appointed blue-ribbon Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee lent his gravitas to an early morning kick-off of the Business and Industry STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Coalition held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. That coalition, representing 30 business and industry organizations and 20 million employees, many of them in aerospace, issued a call to arms to double the number of college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in the four STEM disciplines from 200,000 a year to 400,000 a year by 2020. This should, well, stem the receding flow of highly-skilled workers needed to replace attrition in the U.S. workforce over the next decade.

Norm Augustine's worried about the future supply of skilled technical workers in the U.S. Photo: NASA/Paul E. Alers

The coalition will develop an inventory of work skills needed by business over the next 10 years, engage employers to promote game-changing STEM programs in all 50 states, and improve attitudes of the public toward STEM professions. The coalition will work with the already established STEM Education Coalition, which is co-chaired by the American Chemical Society and the National Science Teachers Association, and will be joined by advisory members from the Defense, Education, and Homeland Security departments, which also face shortages of highly skilled tech workers.

The central message of the coalition is that American students aren’t keeping up with the rest of the world technologically. One marker: The 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment, among the most comprehensive international comparative surveys in the last several years. It found that American students ranked 21st out of 30 nations surveyed in science literacy and 25th out of 30 in math literacy. Augustine reminded the auditorium that just four percent of the working U.S. population are scientists and engineers, despite the fact that science and engineering accounts for up to 80 percent of GDP growth over the last half a century; and that two-thirds of PhDs awarded in the U.S. now go to foreign nationals.

Who better than Augustine to demonstrate that a career in aerospace is prestigious? He was the highest profile speaker of the morning, even with two congressmen on the stage. It’s hard to find English on his resume, what with all the Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Sigma Xi, and Tau Beta Pi. Since graduating from Princeton long ago with a degree in aeronautical engineering, he’s received 23 more honorary degrees, as well as the Department of Defense’s highest civilian decoration, the Distinguished Service Medal—five times. He served for 16 years on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, led the 1990 Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program, and chaired the National Academies commission that produced the landmark 2007 report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. These took up about half a paragraph on a full page needed to list all of his achievements in the hand-out.

Oh, and he’s stood on both the North and South Poles. But only on Earth.