The Washington Post:

Long relegated to the Air and Space Museum’s basement gift shop, “Star Trek’s” USS Enterprise has moved to the central atrium. The newly restored, 11-foot-long studio model of the fictional starship, used for special-effects shots in the original TV series, will be unveiled Tuesday. (Just in time for the museum’s all-night 40th birthday celebration.)

“It’s been brought into the light because, over time, its historical significance has grown,” museum conservator Malcolm Collum says.

Collum and his team have restored the ship to what it looked like in 1967 during the filming of the “Trouble with Tribbles” episode, which is when the last-known modification of the ship took place.

I first saw this model on my honeymoon and thought it bizarre it was relegated to the back of the museum’s gift shop. Glad to see it got the conservation and display it deserves.