Long-awaited space shuttle display opens at National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton
2/26/2014DAYTON — A much-awaited space shuttle display is opening at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton.
The $1.7 million walk-through space shuttle mock-up was built especially for the museum after it was unable to secure one of NASA’s three existing space shuttle orbiters after NASA retired the program. The exhibit opens Wednesday.
The Dayton Daily News reports the shuttle display will be temporarily housed in the Cold War gallery until it is relocated to a new $34.5 million hangar set to open in early 2016 at the world’s largest military aviation museum.
The full-scale mock-up is built around a crew compartment trainer that hundreds of NASA astronauts trained in to master 2,000 cockpit controls and instruments prior to launch.