If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 373

The Museum of Flight, Seattle

[photo:  Christian Bouchez]

After a two week hiatus that included several rides on airplanes it seemed like this postcard was an appropriate start to the Thursday posts. 

On one of the hottest days of the summer we went to the Museum of Flight so we could get a walk in and still be comfortable in an air-conditioned facility.  Part of the exhibit is undercover but outdoors as seen on the postcard and so it was less cool in that section.  This is an amazing museum that features examples of aircraft from DaVinci’s design recreated to space capsules and rocketry.  I purchased this postcard with a photo by Christian Bouchez from the museum gift shop.  

 DaVinci's aircraft drawing brought to life

A glider of the Wright Brother's era recreated

The Museum of Flight, located on Boeing Field, just south of Seattle in Tukwila, is a private non-profit air and space museum.  Established in 1965 it is the largest private air and space museum in the world and attracts over 500,000 visitors a year.  In addition to the exhibits the museum also hosts educational programs for K-12 students through its Challenger and Aviation Learning Centers.  There is also a summer camp for students.  

One small section of the indoor exhibit

Currently the museum’s Aviation Pavilion is a 140,00 square foot or 13,000 square meter structure.  Most of the museum complex is modern but the original “Red Barn” built in 1909 and used in the early 1900s as the original manufacturing plant for Boeing and a registered historic site also known as Building No. 105, is within the grounds and houses photographs, oral histories and exhibits illustrating how wooden aircraft with fabric overlays were manufactured during the early years. 

 One of the Lunar landing capsules

Space Shuttle Trainer

Mercury space capsule

Satellite

There have been several major expansions to the museum since it was founded including the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery.  The museum has the Space Shuttle trainer that the Space Shuttle astronauts used. 


For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Flight