lindbergh flew across the atlantic for a prize. there was a $25,000 prize for the first person that could fly non-stop from paris to new york or new york to paris. and it went on and on and on. in fact, prizes were one of the main tools that governments had to get innovation because either, you know, our modern research institutions weren't set up or, you know, the money just wasn't being set. and then came around world war i, world war ii, when the government really started funding innovation and just started throwing a ton of money at things, that prizes sort of dissipated. >> when we started the xprize back in 1996, everybody knew that only governments--in fact, only two governments could put human beings into space. and the purpose of the xprize was to change what everybody knew about that by requiring a demonstration of private space flight twice in two weeks with the same ship. and that kicked off the whole suborbital space flight industry. >> and launch of the spacex falcon 9 rocket, as nasa turns to the private sector to re

the other day i was actually with the lindbergh flyer the spirit of st. louis looking inside, you're not supposed to touch it but hey i'm the secretary. [laughter] and so there's something really cool about what the smithsonian really is. not that i am competitive with the archives are the park or the of the library of congress. you want to understand america you come to the smithsonian. [laughter] >> you had three presidents at the kickoff ceremony, president clinton there, president obama and also you had president bush. so in that museum how long can it take you to build that museum? did it take you six months or something to get it done? >> the desire to build the museum was a 100 year project i worked for 11 years. so for 11 years every waking moment i was think about building the museum. something only american and david was there what it was america at its best. coming together to say how do we do something that matters for the country? for me that's a moment i will never forget. one because it was finally done. and to that we are "one nation." [ap