(01) Is the museum planning to build additional galleries?
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is in the midst of a multi-phase, long-term expansion plan. The Air Force Museum Foundation is currently supporting a major capital construction program to expand the museum's current one million square feet of exhibit space with a fourth building that will house the Space Gallery, Presidential Aircraft Gallery and Global Reach Gallery. Click here for more information about the proposed expansion or here to visit the Air Force Museum Foundation's website.
(02) How is fundraising going for the fourth building? Has the Air Force Museum Foundation raised any more funds?
Fundraising is constantly on-going through the Air Force Museum Foundation's theatre, store and café. The Foundation also is seeking support from major national and international corporations and individuals across America who hold the museum in high regard. Currently $38.3 million has been secured in cash and pledges for the project.
The Foundation recently launched a public campaign, asking the general public to step forward and help reach the $48 million goal. Click to here to learn more about this campaign.
(03) When will construction begin, and when will the building be open to the public?
Current plans call for construction to begin in 2013, and the building to be initially opened in 2015. At that time, the museum will continue to populate the new building until all exhibits are completed.
(04) What exhibits will be housed in the fourth building?
The fourth building will house the Space Gallery, Presidential Aircraft Gallery and Global Reach Gallery.
A separate dedicated Space Gallery will tell the remarkable story of Air Force activities in space. A major exhibit component of the gallery will be the NASA Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT), a high-fidelity representation of a space shuttle orbiter crew station that was used primarily for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations. The gallery also will include a Titan IV space launch vehicle, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, and many recently retired NASA artifacts such as a nose cap assembly, landing gear strut and a variety of astronaut equipment. In addition, a range of satellites and related items will showcase the Air Force's vast reconnaissance, early warning, communications and other space-based capabilities. Other new exhibits will be developed to showcase Air Force technologies with many unique characteristics in design, propulsion, payload capacity, human factors, communication, range, speed and operating environment.
The museum is the repository for Air Force aircraft that have been retired from the presidential aircraft fleet. Currently, the museum's presidential aircraft are on display in an auxiliary hangar a mile from the main museum complex on a controlled-access portion of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Visitors must be transported by bus to this facility. The new gallery will permit the museum to bring the presidential aircraft to the main facility, allowing all visitors the opportunity to view this historic collection of nine presidential aircraft, among them the Douglas VC-54 used by Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, the Douglas VC-118 used by President Truman, the Lockheed VC-121E used by President Eisenhower and the Boeing VC-137C used by President Kennedy.
An important element of Air Force history will be told in the Global Reach Gallery. Providing airlift remains a major mission of the U.S. Air Force and it forms a critical part of the Air Force's ability to maintain global reach. The Global Reach Gallery will give the opportunity to house large aircraft currently in the museum's collection, such as the C-141 Hanoi Taxi, and those anticipated to become part of the collection, such as a C-5 Galaxy and KC-135. The Air Force's airlift and air refueling missions will also be explained in this gallery.
Artists' renderings of the fourth building are available on the Expansion page.
(05) What is the Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT) and what will the exhibit entail?
A major exhibit component of the new Space Gallery will be the NASA Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT), a high-fidelity representation of a space shuttle orbiter crew station that was used primarily for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations.
Plans call for the museum to build a full-scale mock-up of the payload bay and develop other new exhibits with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs. When completed, the CCT exhibit will allow the public to look into the cockpit and mid-deck areas of a shuttle and learn how astronauts trained for their missions.
(06) How soon will the CCT exhibit be finished? Do you have a diagram or drawing of what the CCT exhibit will look like?
The CCT and surrounding exhibits will take many months to complete. We are planning for the CCT to arrive at the museum in late summer 2012, and at this time, we do not have a final completion date for the exhibit. However, the public will still be able to view the CCT on display in the Cold War Gallery while the exhibit is being completed. Click here to see a conceptual drawing of the CCT exhibit.
(07) Where will the CCT be placed on display?
The museum will place the CCT on interim display in the Cold War Gallery in 2012, before later moving it to the museum's planned Space Gallery in the fourth building.
(08) Will you allow the public inside the CCT once it is placed on display?
The public will have as much access as we can reasonably provide to the CCT, payload bay and surrounding exhibits. However, the museum will also take into consideration preservation requirements.
(09) What kinds of educational programming will you be able to conduct in the fourth building?
The museum is planning to develop new exhibits with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs. These include exhibits that will showcase Air Force technologies with many unique characteristics in design, propulsion, payload capacity, human factors, communication, range, speed and operating environment.
One of the unique features of the fourth building will be the creation of dedicated, interactive spaces for learning in the galleries. Three Learning Nodes will provide a unique environment for lectures and demonstrations, as well as extensions of the exhibit experience. These 60-seat "gallery classrooms" will allow museum staff to facilitate new STEM experiences, while guest scientists and engineers from Air Force organizations, the aerospace industry, and area colleges and universities will be invited to share their expertise. Multimedia presentations will introduce students to air and space missions and the men and women responsible for their execution. When the nodes are not in use for scheduled programs, multimedia presentations will captivate public audiences.
|
