Museum of Technology

The Museum of Technology is a building in the ruins of Washington, DC, accessible from the National Mall.

Layout
The Museum of Technology is one of the few more or less intact buildings on the National Mall. However, it is not likely to survive for much longer, as the building is crumbling, with pillars falling out of place and visible holes in the roof, and the attractions have been heavily damaged. It occupies the real-world site of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.

Several exhibits have survived the years following the nuclear firestorm of 2077. The original plane successfully flown by the Wright Brothers (the Wright 'Flyer') is the airplane that is on the floor, smashed, just inside the museum. Deeper inside the museum, you can find two more airplanes. Hanging from the ceiling in the same room as the Virgo II lunar lander is a P-51 Mustang. This airplane is also on display by the Capitol Preservation Society in Rivet City. In the West Wing of the museum, partially buried in the rubble is a P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter (the same type of aircraft as the planes resting on the deck of the Rivet City aircraft carrier).

By far the biggest attraction is a sample Vault-Tec Industries Vault on the second floor which you must go through in order to get to the Virgo II lander. It serves as a demonstration of what Vault life would be like and displays the various technologies used by Vault-Tec in constructing the Vaults. It consists of a hallway with windows to rooms with examples of Vault sections. The rooms of the exhibit include a bedroom, kitchen, and classroom. Next to the windows are speakers which play recorded messages. The number on the presentation Vault's door is "106".

Two exhibits on the ground floor near the Delta Rocket celebrate the first human space flight of Carl Bell as taking place on May 5, 1961 in the space capsule Defiance 7. That date is the flight of the first real American in space, Alan Shepard, aboard the Freedom 7 Mercury 3 capsule. Note that Shepard did not orbit the earth and that his sub-orbital flight lasted only fifteen minutes.

Notable loot

 * A skill book Nikola Tesla and You can be found on the second floor of the atrium, in the turret control room on the right of the Maintenance computer.
 * There are three Stealth Boy 3001's on display in the museum, complete with little plaques describing them: one in the main entrance of the atrium (southwest corner), and two more up the main stairs to the left in the entry room leading to the 'Halls of Today' exhibit. The Stealth Boys are much bigger than normal Stealth Boys found out in the wasteland
 * There are two hidden areas under the multi-level staircase surrounding the Delta IX rocket. Starting from the lower floor, go up the stairs and along the walkway to plaques that say 'Activate Delta IX Rocket'. Just to the left of each plaque is a gap between the room railing and the stairway railing. At each gap (or better, at each plaque), instead of going up the stairs, jump up onto the room railing, then down onto the little ledge that runs along the outside of the stairs. Follow the ledge to each hidden area.
 * The first area has a Bed, an Ammunition Box, a Mine Box, a Stimpak, one Jet, and an Assault Rifle.
 * The second area is actually a blocked off room, which contains another Bed, the skill book Guns and Bullets in the corner, 4 Purified Waters, 2 Nuka Cola bottles, another Stimpak and three or four minor goods. If you have a companion, he or she may warp into the room after you get there, and warp back out when you leave.


 * In the planetarium office, there is a Nuka-Cola Quantum on the shelf.

Related quests
In the atrium, there is a lit "Museum Information" terminal with a message from Prime to Jiggs, beginning the minor quest about a weapons cache in the Security Office Safe. Additionally, there are three other "Museum Information" terminals where codes need to be properly entered to obtain a password for terminal near the safe. Inside the safe is the key to the gun cabinet in the planetarium. That gun case contains a missile launcher, some missiles, and 2 pulse grenades. See the main quest article for a more in-depth discussion.

Appearances
The appears in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * On a semicircular desk in the atrium, a number of pencils and one bottlecap are arranged to form the logo of the gaming news website Shacknews.
 * The narration of the planetarium show is an impersonation of the famous astronomer Carl Sagan.
 * A flag on the lobby balcony references a destroyed ship named Ebon Atoll, which is likely a reference to Black Isle. They note it was "torpedoed" (lit. sabotaged) by a friendly.
 * There is a reference to L.A. death/industrial metal band Fear Factory. There are two separate computer terminals, one in the lobby and one in the planetarium, where you can access the research lead's notes. The first journal entry contains lyrics from Fear Factory's song "Archetype", and "Burton C. Bell" (the research lead's name) is the name of Fear Factory's lead singer.