|
Located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, birthplace of astronaut and flight pioneer General Thomas P. Stafford, the Stafford Air & Space Center houses an amazing collection of air and space exhibits, an interactive aviation gallery that spans the history of flight, more than 20 historic aircraft, unique space flight artifacts and more! The Stafford Air & Space Center also houses one of the most comprehensive exhibits in the world displaying the history of rocketry. From the giant F-1 Saturn engine, powerhouse of the Apollo missions, down through the Gemini and Mercury space programs, Explorer, Sputnik and on to the earliest known man-made rockets, the Stafford Air & Space Center will leave you in awe!
Your imagination will soar as you view actual flown-in-space artifacts
from the Shuttle program, Born September 17, 1930, in Weatherford, Oklahoma, General Stafford was the lead member of the group, which helped formulate the sequence of missions leading to the first lunar landing mission. He demonstrated and implemented the theory of a pilot manually flying the Saturn booster into orbit and the translunar injection maneuver. General Stafford was Commander of Apollo 10 in May 1969, first flight of the lunar module to the moon, performed the first rendezvous around the Moon, and performed the entire lunar landing mission except the actual landing. He also made reconnaissance and tracking missions on future Apollo landing sites. General Stafford was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for highest speed ever attained by man, that occurred during Apollo 10 reentry when the spacecraft attained 24,791 statute miles per hour. In June of 1990, Vice President Quayle and Admiral Richard Truly, then NASA Administrator, asked General Stafford to Chair a team to independently advise NASA how to carry out President Bush's vision of returning to the Moon, this time to stay, and then go on to explore Mars. General Stafford assembled teams of 40 full-time and 150 part-time members from the DOD, DOE and NASA, and completed the study called "America at the Threshold", a road map for the next 30 years of the U.S. Manned Space Flight Program. General Stafford and Vice President Quayle held a joint Press Conference at the White House in June 1991 to announce the recommendations to the public. The Clinton Administration directed a review of all federally-funded research and development plans of the Executive Branch in 1994. Gen. Stafford chaired the committee to review and make recommendations to enhance the efficiency of the R&D initiatives of the NASA Human Exploration Enterprise that included JSC, KSC, MSFC and SSFC. |
 Road Trip
|
THOMAS
P. STAFFORD, LIEUTENANT GENERAL, United States Air Force (Retired)
Hubble
telescope, and the Mir Space Station. Come face to face with the 94 foot
Titan II missile alongside its Gemini space capsule, and 9 megaton nuclear
warhead. The Stafford Air & Space Center tells the story of flight
from Leonardo to Mars, the stunning exhibits will leave you amazed, entertained,
and inspired…you have to see it to believe it!
