The Stafford Air and Space Museum

In a museum, I'm like a kid in a candy store.

I could have spent a full day inside the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK last weekend.

We got there rather late in the afternoon on August 8th, but the time we spent there was wonderful. The museum has one hall dedicated to the history of flight, and several dedicated to hometown hero General Tom Stafford.

If you have any interest in space exploration, flight, or 20th Century American history, I highly recommend taking the time to visit the museum.

Top 5 Highlights:

5. Learning more about one of NASA's first and eventually most experienced astronauts and administrators. Stafford grew from a rather average child in a small Oklahoma town to an accomplished military officer- in the Navy and in the newly established US Air Force- to an astronaut involved in the Gemini missions and so much more. His story is inspiring.

4. "Flown in space artifacts." From Lunar Module checklists, to flags, to space suits, to pieces of rockets and shuttles flown into space, there are many artifacts large and small to see, interact with, and read about. (And of course there's a moon rock!)

3. Space flight history that wasn't in my sixth-grade science book and missions I'd not seen documentaries of or read about elsewhere. I grew up during the decline of the Cold War, and since the shuttle program has ended, we send up astronauts in Soyuz rockets these days. However, the exibits dedicated to the mission in which the Apollo and Soyuz docked together were news to me. It marked endings and beginnings, and I highly recommend reading more about the mission- or better yet, visiting the Stafford Museum- whether or not you are already familiar with this mission.

2. Monument Guys. If you enjoy this member of The History Channel lineup, then see one of their creations at the Stafford Museum. The care that went into the statue is evident. Although the piece is relatively small, it's lovely and packed with details. Catching the episode by chance is how I heard about the museum.

1. Finding your inner child. I like to feel like a kid. I was so happy standing inside a segment of solid rocket booster that I could have stayed there for hours. I felt so small standing by a full scale Titan II rocket. It's good to be reminded we're small. We're standing on a sphere hurtling around a sun in this miracle of a universe. If you can't find that kid inside of you who longs to fly to the stars here, then maybe s/he is lost. Go find that kid!

There really are a myriad reasons to visit this small but impressive Smithsonian Associated Museum. Mine was the need to defy gravity that I recently wrote about.

What will yours be?

Until Next Time...
Ro Huizinga