Oregon's Largest Space Facility Opens Next Month

Most people know the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, OR as home to the world’s largest wooden flying boat, Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, and the world's fastest aircraft ever built, the SR-71 Blackbird. Next month, however, visitors will also enjoy another world class addition -- a new space facility. 

Set to open June 6, the 120,000 square foot facility will compliment the museum campus and reflect the same design as the home of the famous Spruce Goose. The new museum will feature artifacts the facility has already acquired including the Titan II SLV missile, the Titan IV SLV missile, the Willamette Meteorite, the replica Lunar Module, the replica Lunar Rover and the Russian Photon Space Capsule. 

The new facility also boasts a 65,000 square foot space gallery that will include dozens of authentic space artifacts, some of which are in the museum's permanent collection and others that will be loaned to the museum by he Kansas Cosmosphere and National Air & Space Museum.  Major exhibits will include an X-15, a Redstone Rocket, Gemini capsule, Apollo capsule, Saturn Rocket, space food and a collection of space suits.  Historic artifacts, full-scale replicas of spacecraft and interactive exhibits and simulators will all be used to tell the story of spaceflight. The centerpiece of the new facility will be a Titan II SLV missile.  With this new exhibit, guests will be able to participate in a hands-on missile launch experience. The museum also plans to host a series of educational programs and space camps.

In addition to the exhibits, the Space Museum will feature visitor amenities including: An aviation-and-space-themed playground, The Right Stuff Gift Store, The Cosmo Café, The Tasting Station Wine Bar, The Milky Way ice cream shop and the Sweet Space treat stop.

The new Space Museum will also become the home of McMinnville High School's Engineering and Science Academy (EASA) in September 2008.  The Academy will be home to local students who will spend half day increments in labs and classes in the museum's new classroom facility.

Evergreen teamed with Hoffman Construction of Portland, OR and began construction of the new Space Museum in late September 2006.

FMI: www.evergreenmuseum.org