posted 01-09-2012 03:03 PM               

In short, I was very impressed and glad to have added this detour to my trip. Three to four hours was adequate to see the museum's substantial collection of aircraft and space-related material.

Not too surprisingly, the space emphasis is Gemini, Apollo, and ASTP. The F-1 and J-2 rocket motors on display are very accessible (to the extent possible for such massive pieces of hardware) and these were joined with a good mix of other space artifacts, Shuttle included. An extensive collection of models helps illustrate and contrast the development of both the U.S. and Russian spacecraft.

The museum houses much personal material from Gen. Stafford's career and several spacesuits, including his Apollo 10 pressure suit on loan from the National Air and Space Museum. A moon rock collected by Apollo 17 and presented to General Stafford is also featured.

I noted one very nice Apollo 10 item on loan from a cS member. You had to look carefully to know the source but it was good to see such generous sharing, along with a familiar name.

posted 03-22-2013 02:15 PM               

We would also like to share that we will be receiving some new artifacts that will be built into our current exhibits. Our museum has begun its layout of galleries and we are planning more events similar to the Apollo 17 40th Anniversary.

posted 04-08-2014 05:55 PM               

Over the past few months, the museum has shared some construction images via its Facebook page:

posted 01-06-2016 06:11 PM               

The F-104 Starfighter jet currently located at the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK, holds a personal connection to General Thomas P. Stafford. Stafford has spent many hours as a pilot in the F-104 and was also a test pilot instructor for F-104 Starfighter.

Our F-104 is one of the selected 29 "War Bird" planes for Vietnam, and actually flew in the war. The F-104 was originally located out at the far museum entrance on East Main and Jim Cobb Road. It has now recently been installed in the very front outside of the museum. It is displayed at about a 75 degree angle, because General Stafford commented that he often flew the F-104 at that particular angle.

Last June, just Joe Engle and I walked out onto the tarmac next to the museum and discussed his experiences with the F-104.

posted 01-07-2016 06:49 AM               

They managed to do that in between two ice storms. Glad I wasn't there for the storms.

posted 03-28-2016 05:13 PM               

Our majestic F-104 Starfighter soaring to life in front of the museum!

posted 08-03-2016 06:35 PM               

'Sooner State' shuttle: Stafford Museum to display NASA simulator in Oklahoma

A space shuttle cockpit that was used to train all of the crews that launched on board the winged orbiters has landed in Oklahoma, where it will be displayed at a museum named for a veteran NASA astronaut.

The Stafford Air & Space Museum, located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, announced Wednesday (Aug. 3) its acquisition of the fixed-based simulator (FBS), a high-fidelity replica of the shuttle's flight deck and partial middeck, which was in use for three decades at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

posted 08-09-2016 02:27 PM               

Restoration of the Shuttle Fixed-Based Simulator is underway...

posted 12-29-2017 02:15 AM               

Oklahoma astronaut museum announces 'Legacy Campaign' for more space

Twenty five years after it was founded, an astronaut's hometown museum is looking to expand – just in time to mark a half century since its namesake's historic flight to the moon.

The Stafford Air & Space Museum, named for Gemini and Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford, announced its "Legacy Campaign," a major fund-raising effort to grow its facilities by more than 18,000 square feet (1,670 sq. meters). The museum, located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, aims to have the first phase of the expansion completed in time to host a celebration for the 50th anniversary of Stafford's Apollo 10 mission in May 2019.

posted 01-02-2018 10:39 AM               

Please check back at the beginning of January for donation opportunities!

posted 01-06-2018 01:02 PM               

The Legacy Campaign thrives through the generosity of the donors who invest in our mission. We invite you to join the museum in this endeavor and leave your legacy.

Your one time or recurring donation moves the museum closer to achieving its campaign goal for the expansion project and the ability to preserve the legacy of Tom Stafford and those who participate in this campaign, and also to educate and inspire future generations.

posted 07-31-2018 12:00 AM               

Museum move reunites historic Gemini 6 spacecraft with its pilot

A historic NASA spacecraft has landed on long-term display at the museum named for its pilot.

The Gemini 6 capsule, which in 1965 achieved the first rendezvous with another crewed spacecraft, quietly made the move last week to the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma. The Smithsonian-owned artifact had been on exhibit in Oklahoma City since 2004.

posted 07-31-2018 11:37 AM               

If you have never been to the Stafford Museum you owe yourself a trip it is an amazing grouping of so many items it will take you a very full day there.

posted 07-31-2018 01:14 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by GACspaceguy:
Now, if they could just get the Apollo 10 command module there.

---

posted 03-22-2019 10:18 PM               

It's a big day here at the museum! The first pour of concrete for the expansion is happening right now!

posted 07-23-2020 10:22 AM               

The Eagle Has Landed!

The Stafford Air and Space Museum's newest addition is a full-scale museum quality Apollo Lunar Module replica. The Lunar Module (LM) was the spacecraft that carried American astronauts to the lunar surface. Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford and fellow crew member, Gene Cernan, would be the first to fly the spidery-looking spacecraft into lunar orbit in 1969. Standing over 2.5 stories tall, the display is one of the largest items on display in the museum.

None of the flown LMs ever returned to the Earth intact, as they did not have a heatshield to withstand the fiery reentry back through the Earth's atmosphere. They either crashed into the lunar surface or burned up in Earth's atmosphere. The only exception is Stafford's Apollo 10 Lunar Module, Snoopy, that was put into an orbit around the sun. For this reason, the museum commissioned Global Effects, Inc. in California to build the replica. Two Academy Award winning prop production designers led the effort. Stafford museum director Max Ary spent more than two years researching thousands of photos and documents to assure the greatest accuracy of the replica.

The objective was to construct a Lunar Module so accurate, the astronauts that originally flew the missions could not tell the unit was a replica. The replica is so accurate that many of the parts are stamped with the original LM part numbers. Many of the original materials used on an actual lunar module were used on the replica, including 22-karat gold-flashed Kapton blankets that surround much of the Lunar Module lower decent stage.

The display includes two highly detailed replica Apollo suits: The gallery depicts Buzz Aldrin coming down the lunar module ladder and Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. The gold-visor helmet attached to the suit of Neil Armstrong was worn by Ryan Gosling in last year's award-winning movie, "First Man." Global Effects produced many of the high-fidelity props for the movie.

It will take several more months for the Lunar Module display to be completed. A platform must be built under the elevated Lunar Module to reproduce a simulated lunar surface, and various other displays will be built to ring diorama.

The final major component of the Apollo gallery will be installing the Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) spacecraft. It will be elevated to the top of the 32-foot high gallery next to the LM. The Apollo CSM was the "mothership" of the Apollo mission, and would have been docked with the Lunar Module on the journey to the moon.

When finished, the Stafford Air and Space Museum will be one of the only museums in the world with full-scale representations of all three of the Apollo spacecraft modules; the Command, Service and Lunar Modules.

posted 09-09-2020 06:29 PM               

Thursday, Sept. 17:

• Free museum admission all day 9-5
  
• Visitors are invited to write a birthday message to Gen. Stafford on a banner in the museum
  
• Stores at the Stafford 7-8:30 for Members only.
  
• FaceTime with Gen. Stafford for Q&A time

• Free museum admission all day 9-5
  
• Food trucks
  
• Birthday cake being served starting at noon
  
• FaceTime with Gen. Stafford for Q&A

posted 09-20-2020 11:09 PM            

And of course there was cake!!!

The highlight was a live Facetime chat with Gen. Stafford, he also answered several questions from the museum guests. "Study Hard !!!"

The new LM display is still a work in progress but is coming along nicely.

posted 01-13-2023 05:57 PM               

What makes this Lunar Modular Simulator so special? It took us a year to gather digitally enhanced footage from all six moon landings and liftoffs. An enormous amount of time was spent putting this footage into a cockpit that is accurate in detail and lighting.

The simulator is interactive, including some controls, and indicator lights come on at specific times in the "flight." The actual communication between Mission Control and the astronauts can be heard and the transcript can be read on the screen. On that same screen, the viewer can watch a high definition recreation of the lunar module, provided by NASA, coming down toward the lunar surface or lifting off of it.

As communication is being spoken, the viewer is able to see where the Lunar Module is located at each point in the conversation. It allows viewers to see, within a foot or two, exactly where the astronauts landed on the lunar surface.

But the icing on the cake to this experience is the view from the Lunar Module windows! Each flight projects actual space footage from each of the landings and liftoffs as the astronauts would see it from the Lunar Module windows.

posted 01-20-2023 11:28 AM               

This prestigious award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Congress to individuals who have made great contributions in the field of space exploration. General Stafford is one of only a few living astronauts to receive such honor.

Most people know that Tom Stafford had an extraordinary astronaut career, flying four space missions, including one to the moon, as well as carrying the title of "Chief Astronaut." But what many don't know is that no figure in the history has done more, for as long, to evolve America's space program and create international cooperation in space as General Stafford. He has served as a close advisor to every NASA Administrator for the last half century, as well as to many Congressional committees and U.S. representatives on matters dealing with NASA and the nation's future in space.

In 1989, President Bush called upon Stafford to chart a long-term path to send astronauts back to the Moon and on to Mars. He assembled an accomplished team of approximately 50 scientists and engineers called the "Synthesis Group" of which Stafford served as Chairman. After two years of intensive work, the result was a detailed plan of action entitled "America at the Threshold" that was so visionary and detailed that parts are still being used today to help chart our future course into space. We only have to look at the recent Artemis 1 launch to witness some of Stafford's vision.

Additionally, Stafford was asked by several NASA Administrators to form and lead numerous critical committees to find and verify solutions to difficult challenges faced by NASA over the last four decades. When the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990, a committee lead by Stafford would develop a critical repair to the Hubble Space Telescope after being launched into orbit with a crippling manufacturing flaw in its mirror. Stafford's team worked out a solution and the pioneering methods to repair the telescope. Hubble went on to revolutionize the science of astronomy, and completely change our concept of the universe. None of the more than 2-million mind-boggling images sent back to Earth from the Hubble would have ever existed without the leadership of General Tom Stafford!

In the late 1990's, Stafford would use his unique knowledge gained with forging working relationships with the Russian space program during his Apollo-Soyuz mission. Stafford would lead a committee that would orchestrate an important working relationship with the Russians that led to U.S. astronauts living aboard the Russian MIR space station for long durations, forging a new alliance with the Russians in space. This led to both nations coming together to spend over 20 years designing, building and operating the International Space Station (ISS). Today, the ISS has evolved into an orbiting United Nations as astronauts from 18 countries have lived and worked together aboard the station conducting ground breaking scientific and engineering work that will bring positive impact to every nation on Earth.

After the fateful loss of the Space Shuttle "Columbia" and her crew in 2003, Stafford would lead the committee that would review all of the engineering and procedural changes that had to be made, before the Shuttle ever flew again, to assure its safety.

Long past the time most people would have retired, Tom Stafford has continued to play major roles in the development of space and military technology as a consultant to numerous aerospace corporations. Today, nearly 50 years after his last space mission, Stafford still chairs NASA's critical oversight committee on Space Station Safety and Readiness.

General Thomas P. Stafford is the only person who can say that his work has spanned the nearly seven-decade history of manned spaceflight, and even more amazingly, it continues to this day. He is a true American hero, and a perfect example of what the "Congressional Space Medal of Honor" represents.

posted 06-11-2023 02:27 PM               

Just took a crane and a lot of prep work to get the 16,600 lb. Orion Parachute Drop Test Spacecraft into the museum to start the restoration work. The restoration work will be done by the museum staff and Stafford Scholar students.