Plans for Full Scale Space Shuttle Exhibit Advance
With the arrival of the Space Shuttle Trainer at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the museum will open a whole new world to local kids. The trainer and its exhibits will provide visitors of all ages the opportunity to see what the flight deck and mid-deck sections of the space shuttle orbiter look like and to learn what it is like to launch and live in space.
Plans for Full Scale Space Shuttle Exhibit Advance
With the arrival of the Space Shuttle Trainer at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force earlier this summer, the museum will open a whole new world to local kids.
The museum is already one of the biggest attractions in the city, a longtime favorite for local schools and groups alike. Odds are, if you grew up in the area, you’ve been there multiple times.
The new expansion to the museum brought on by the arrival of the shuttle trainer means an entire building at the museum will be devoted to space history, including over a dozen spacecraft, satellites, and space-related aircraft.
"In a nutshell, the most complete treatment of the shuttle in its contexts within aerospace technology, human spaceflight, and Air Force history will come in the fourth building's space gallery," said Rob Bardua, of the museum’s public affairs division. "That's where other space vehicles, aircraft, test articles, satellites, etc. will lend texture to the whole story."
Bardua told me the gallery is still in its planning phase, but for the time being, the trainer will be based where the Cold War Gallery is today. It arrived at the base on August 22.
The space shuttle trainer, officially titled Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer 1, or CCT-1 was housed in Johnson Space Center's Space Vehicle Mockup Facility for 30 years. There it was used to train crews for all shuttle missions as an accurate representation of the Space Shuttle crew area itself. Astronauts learned how to operate many of the orbiter sub-systems in more than 20 different classes, according to a press release.
"The trainer and its exhibits will provide visitors of all ages the opportunity to see what the flight deck and mid-deck sections of the space shuttle orbiter look like and to learn, not only about the training of astronauts, but also about what it is like to launch and live in space," Bardua told me.
He said that like the rest of the museum, admission to the Space Gallery will be free and groups of all sizes, from schools to familys, will be able to take guided tours through the interactive exhibits. Last week, Display Dynamics Inc. of Clayton, Ohio, was selected to reproduce a full-scale mock-up of a NASA shuttle payload bay, engine and tail sections and a dedicated educational area. The contract was awarded for $1,557,150.00.
"A state-of-art learning node will be adjacent to the trainer and other exhibits and will be the focus for educational opportunities." Bardua said. "In this area, there will be looping videos as well as live presentations focusing on the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) - thus serving to educate, motivate and inspire our next generations of scientists and engineers."
The museum intends to break ground on the facility in 2013 ahead of a 2015 completion. It is expected to cost $48 million, of which $39.3 million has already been secured by the Air Force Museum Foundation.
Among the other items to be housed in the new facility:
--Apollo 15 Command Module
--Mercury spacecraft
--Gemini spacecraft
--Titan IV launch vehicle
--C-119J satellite catcher aircraft from the CORONA program
--Three NRO satellites (KH-7. KH-8 and KH-9)
--Teal Ruby early warning satellite
--DSP satellite (now on display in the missile gallery)
--Several smaller satellites such as Sputnik replica, a CORONA artifact, and others
--ASSET and PRIME program lifting body atmospheric re-entry test vehicles
--X-24A (lifting body research aircraft)
--X-24B (lifting body research aircraft)
--X-15A-2 (rocket powered research aircraft)
--Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) spacecraft
--X-40A gliding re-entry test research vehicle
--A large variety of tools, engines, and astronaut equipment including real and reproduction space suits
National Museum of the United States Air Force
1100 Spaatz Street
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433
