Jeff Bezos donates $200 million to Air and Space Museum in largest gift to the Smithsonian since its founding

The Smithsonian Institution announced Wednesday that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and spaceflight company Blue Origin, is donating $200 million to the National Air and Space Museum – the largest donation to the Smithsonian since the founding gift from James Smithson in 1846. (Bezos owns the Washington Post.)

Of the total, $70 million will support the museum’s ongoing renovation and $130 million will establish an education center called the Bezos Learning Center.

The announcement of the donation comes less than a week before Bezos, who stepped down from Amazon on July 5, will travel into space aboard the New Shepherd Rocket on Blue Origin’s first passenger flight.

Meanwhile, the Air and Space Museum, one of the most popular Smithsonians, is preparing to reopen July 30 for the first time since the pandemic shutdowns began in March 2020.

It also comes during ongoing debate over the role of wealthy philanthropists in museum funding and whose names are honored on the walls of many public institutions. (The Freer/Sackler gallery, named partially after collector Arthur M. Sackler, rebranded as the National Museum of Asian Art in 2019.)

Other large gifts to the Smithsonian include $65 million from Stephen F. Udvar Hazy in 1999 for the Udvar Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, as well as $45 million in 2001 from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation for the building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

“Almost 175 years ago, Mr. Smithson’s inaugural gift laid the groundwork for this innovative approach, bringing together private philanthropy and public funding,” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said in a statement Wednesday.

“Today, as we emerge from a pivotal moment in history, Jeff’s donation builds on that original tradition and will help us reimagine and transform the Smithsonian. This historic gift will help the Smithsonian achieve its goal of reaching every classroom in America by creating a world-class learning center with access and inspiration at its heart.”

Bezos’s gift coincides with a wider public interest in space travel. Blue Origin is one among a handful of companies, including Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, planning to launch commercial spaceflights.

The Air and Space Museum, which is housed in a 45-year-old building on the National Mall, has been under extensive renovations since 2018, and when it reopens to the public at the end of the month, about 60 percent of its exhibition space will still be closed. The renovations are projected to cost $1 billion. Counting the $70 million from Bezos’s gift, the museum is now $15 million shy of its $250 million private funding goal.

With the renovations, the Smithsonian hopes to create new interactive experiences and enhance technological interconnectivity across the museum and with the public at home. Chris Browne, the museum’s acting director, sees the institution’s mission as both forward-looking and historical.

“We believe the museum, in addition to celebrating incredible feats of the past, should also have a rich collection and presentation of what’s happening right now,” he said in an interview.

An Innovations Gallery, which the museum hopes to open in 2024, will have rotating exhibits on a 24-month timetable covering contemporary topics such as climate change.

The Bezos Learning Center will offer STEAM programming and activities that engage the museum’s collection and encourage young people to pursue innovation and explore related careers.

“The ability to scale the educational richness of what the Smithsonian has to offer is what really excites me,” Browne said. “We see the museum as inspiring tomorrow’s innovators and explorers – whether space bound or Earth bound.”