The Strategic Air and Space Museum is a museum focusing on United States Air Force military aircraft and nuclear missiles located near Ashland, Nebraska, along Interstate 80 southwest of Omaha, Nebraska. The objective of the museum is to preserve and display historic aircraft, missile, and space vehicles and provide educational resources. The museum is regarded as having one of the top collections of strategic aircraft.[1] The museum is located near several other tourist attractions including the Platte River State Park, the Mahoney State Park, the Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, several golf courses and a soon to be vineyard.
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The museum began with its first airplane in 1959 as the Strategic Aerospace Museum at Offutt Air Force Base. General Curtis LeMay's vision of a Museum that preserved historic aircraft had become a reality. Over the following years, the museum's name changed to the Strategic Air Command Museum or SAC Museum.
On May 16, 1998, after a 33 million-dollar grass roots capital campaign, the Museum moved to a location more accessible to the public.
On June 15, 2001 the name of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Museum was changed to the Strategic Air & Space Museum. This change incorporated the Museum's rich past while attempting to reach a larger audience through dynamic programming and exciting educational programs that seek to captivate the interests and imaginations of everyone.
The Museum is a $29.5 million, 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) building that features a glass atrium, two aircraft display hangars, a traveling exhibit area, a children's interactive gallery, a 200-seat theater, a Museum store, an aircraft restoration gallery, and a snack bar. The glass atrium is constructed of 525 glass panels that encase a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The two aircraft display hangars protect the aircraft collection and exhibits from harsh outdoor elements. The museum participates in an exhibit exchange program with other national museums and displays them in the traveling exhibit area.[1] Three large missiles are displayed vertically outdoors in front of the museum.
The museum's collection includes examples of most aircraft operated by the Strategic Air Command, including:[1]
The current traveling exhibit is an exhibit featuring Star Wars items. Most notably young Anakin Skywalker's pod racer.