DAYTON, Ohio – The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio is ready to launch a mock-up space shuttle exhibit assembled after a failed bid to get a retiring shuttle several years ago.
The walk-through exhibit opens Feb. 26 and will give visitors a peek at a cockpit and a cargo bay.
Museum officials say the display will be built around NASA’s first Crew Compartment Trainer, a cockpit simulator the size of a real shuttle, which was acquired by the museum in 2012 and was used by astronauts to prepare for shuttle missions.
It features allows visitors to experience the size and shape of an actual space shuttle orbiter by entering the payload bay and looking into the flight deck and mid-deck levels.
Along with the full-scale replica of the shuttle payload bay with a satellite, engine, and tail sections, the exhibit includes a 60-seat dedicated educational area.
The exhibit includes two interactive landing simulators, life-size mock-ups of a shuttle commander’s and pilot’s stations, which were added last summer, and let visitors to try their skill at landing an orbiter.
It’s expected to be part of a sprawling hangar gallery slated to open in 2016.