Stafford Air & Space Museum

The Stafford Air & Space Museum is located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, USA. The museum was named a Smithsonian Affiliate in June 2010. The museum features exhibits about aviation, space exploration and rocketry, and a collection of over 20 historic aircraft. Displays include artifacts from the Space Shuttle program, Hubble Space Telescope and the Mir Space Station, a Moon rock, a Titan II missile, a Mark 6 Re-entry vehicle and a Gemini spacecraft.

Name

The museum is named for legendary astronaut and flight pioneer Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, a native of Weatherford. Graduating from the US Naval Academy, Stafford is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. A veteran of four space flights, he piloted Gemini VI, and commanded Gemini IX, Apollo 10, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission.[1]

Exhibits

The center boasts one of the few actual Titan II launch vehicles on display. The huge rocket body crosses the back of a display gallery from one side of the building to the other. Numerous items acquired from the Smithsonian and on display include: a Gemini flight suit, space food, survival items flown to the Moon on Apollo 11, and the actual flight pressure suit Stafford wore on Apollo 10, the first flight of the lunar module to the moon. One display includes the hatch through which U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts docked and greeted each other in space. Stafford is pictured reaching through the hatch shaking hands with a Russian cosmonaut. The actual uniforms that the two astronauts were wearing at the time are also on display.

Other exhibits include retired aircraft, such as a Russian MiG21R and an F16. Full-size replicas displayed include the Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, Apollo Command Module, and Gemini spacecraft. The museum also features the Rose & Tom Luczo Educational Center that features a flight simulation computer lab, kids library, and planetarium.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.7195 accessed on 6-13-10

External links

Coordinates: 35°32′40″N 98°40′12″W / 35.54444°N 98.67000°W / 35.54444; -98.67000


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