Cree, a North Carolina LED manufacturer, will be installing LR24 recessed LED lights at the “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibit at the museum.

The exhibit lights will demonstrate that Cree’s LEDs can replace “high intensity” work lights, are suitable for gallery displays, and still save energy costs, according to a Cree news release.

The Moving Beyond Earth exhibit reviews the history of space flight from the United States and includes a 12-foot tall space shuttle model, parts of the Hubble Space Telescope, and a model of the Ares launch vehicle. The exhibit has 20-foot high ceilings and 5,000 square feet of space and requires stable temperature and humidity levels to protect the historical artifacts, so the LED lights must provide bright but non-heating light.

In addition to producing a bright, even light, the LEDs are lighter weight than the conventional lights they replace, creating less strain on the ceiling. (Something museum goers probably never thought about before.) The lights also save 80 percent of the energy costs of the mercury vapor lights they replace, according to a Cree analysis.

The Air and Space Museum is located on the mall in D.C. The affiliated Udvar Hazy Center is located in suburban D.C.,  and houses additional space craft and planes, such as the Enola Gay, donated to the museum.