News from California, across the nation and world - Los Angeles Times reported that reservations for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center officially open Oct. 21. The highly anticipated facility spans a sprawling 200,000-square-foot addition at the California Science Center, bringing an entirely new level of aerospace exhibition space to the institution.
When the center officially opens its doors to the public, visitors will be able to explore a wide range of aviation and space history artifacts. Among the classic aircraft included in the exhibits is a Pitts Special S-1C biplane, which was originally designed by Curtis Pitts back in 1944.
The museum's extensive collection also delves deeply into the fascinating history of crewed spaceflight and exploration. The Mercury-Redstone 2 carried an astrochimp named Ham into space in 1961, marking an important chapter in early American space missions. Continuing through the decades of atmospheric and orbital flight, the Gemini 11 set an impressive altitude record of 850 miles during its 1966 spaceflight. Later in the timeline, the Apollo-Soyuz Command Module met a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1975 during a historic joint international mission.
Unmanned exploration of other worlds is also a major focus of the upcoming exhibits. The Sojourner Rover made history as it became the first wheeled robotic vehicle on Mars in 1997. Building directly on that pioneering robotic legacy, the Perseverance Rover successfully landed on Mars in 2021 and traveled 28 miles across the Martian surface.
In addition to these historic spacecraft, aircraft, and rovers, the building houses massive modern rocketry and propulsion hardware. The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center features solid rocket boosters that measure 30 feet long and 12 feet in diameter. Furthermore, the massive Electron Rocket stands 59 feet tall on the third floor of the new facility, towering over the indoor exhibition space.
Joby Aviation told News from California, across the nation and world - Los Angeles Times that tickets for portions of the experience are "soon to be bookable at the tap of a button."
Reflecting on the scale and cultural importance of the institution's new collection, a Times review told News from California, across the nation and world - Los Angeles Times that the display "is, simply put, one of the greatest artifacts ever installed in a museum."
