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Stafford Air & Space Museum

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The Stafford Air & Space Museum is located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, United States. The museum, named after NASA astronaut and Weatherford native Thomas P. Stafford, became a Smithsonian Affiliate in June 2010.

Stafford Air & Space Museum entrance

The museum's displays include Stafford's Apollo 10 spacesuit, the Gemini 6A spacecraft, artifacts from the Space Shuttle program, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mir Space Station, a Moon rock, a Titan II missile, a Mark 6 re-entry vehicle, and a collection of over 20 historic aircraft.[1][2]

The museum is located at the Thomas P. Stafford Airport.

Name

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The F-4 Phantom at the entrance of the Stafford Air & Space Museum[3]
 
Stafford and Alexei Leonov shake hands through the hatch (on display) connecting the U.S. and Soviet capsules during the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz mission

The museum is named for legendary astronaut and flight pioneer Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, a native of Weatherford and one of only 24 people to have traveled to the Moon. Graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Stafford is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. A veteran of four space flights, he piloted Gemini 6A, and commanded Gemini 9A, the 1969 Moon-orbiting mission Apollo 10, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.[4]

History

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The museum opened in 1983 in two rooms at the Weatherford airport. By 2006, it had expanded to four buildings.[5]

Exhibits

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The center boasts one of the few actual Titan II launch vehicles on display. The huge rocket body spans 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 Apollo Lunar Module which orbited the Moon.

The hatch through which U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts docked and greeted each other in space during the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz mission is on display in the museum. Stafford is pictured reaching through the hatch, shaking hands with Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. 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 MiG-21R and a F-16. 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, which includes a flight simulation computer lab, a kids' library, and a Talon A3 Motion-Based Flight Simulator that runs X-Plane 11 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Also on display is a TP-82 Cosmonaut survival pistol given to Stafford by Leonov.

As of March 5, 2018, the museum has acquired a Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the "Warthog," which is on display outside the museum. In July 2018, the Gemini 6A spacecraft was moved to the museum.[6][2]

Early aviation

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Gemini 6A spacecraft, flown in 1965 by Stafford and Wally Schirra
 
Thomas Stafford's Apollo 10 spacesuit
 
V-2 rocket engine

Early rocketry

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Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs

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Modern space and aviation

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References

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  1. ^ "EXHIBITS". Stafford Air & Space Museum. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  2. ^ a b c Pearlman, Robert (July 31, 2018). "Museum Move Reunites Historic Gemini 6 Spacecraft with its Pilot". Space.com. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  3. ^ "Home". Stafford Air & Space Museum. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  4. ^ "Stafford Air & Space Museum". www.travelok.com. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  5. ^ Clark, Keli (18 June 2006). "Oklahoma Aircraft Museum Expands". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  6. ^ KFOR news
  7. ^ "EXHIBITS". Stafford Air & Space Museum. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
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35°32′40″N 98°40′12″W / 35.54444°N 98.67000°W / 35.54444; -98.67000

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