Seattle Building Gallery To Welcome Space Shuttle

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 22nd 2010 at 8:01PM

If you build it, it will come? The Museum of Flight in Seattle will break ground on its new Space Gallery next week meant to house a Space Shuttle even though NASA hasn't determined which museums across the U.S. will receive one of the three shuttles - the Enterprise, Endeavor or Atlantis. The Discovery is going to the Smithsonian which will in turn release the Enterprise, the shuttle prototype, to another museum. The shuttle-ready space has to be completed by 2011 in order to be considered.

The $12 million Space Gallery designed by SRG Partnership has a glass facade and will be lit at night to showcase the shuttle. If the museum doesn't win one of the shuttles the gallery space could be used for other artifacts. The groundbreaking takes place Tuesday, June 29 at 10 a.m. next to the Museum of Flight Library and Archives Building, 9303 East Marginal Way South in Seattle, across the street from the Personal Courage Wing. Dignitaries attending include retired astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, the Museum's CEO and Mike Hallman, the Museum's Interim President. The museum is raising funds for the 15,500-square-foot climate-controlled Shuttle Gallery which will also include exhibits that emphasize stories from the visionaries, designers, pilots, and crews of the Space Shuttle.

Tags: museum of flight, SeattleMariners, space shuttle, space shuttle atlantis, Space Shuttle Discovery, space shuttle endeavour