BIG CITY GETAWAY

daytrip ideas to get out of the daily grind

VIRGINIA AIR & SPACE SCIENCE CENTER 600 SETTLERS LANDING RD., HAMPTON, VA 23669 757-727-0900 • VASC.ORG

Along the banks of the Hampton River, in the southeastern part of Virginia, you will nd a most remarkable museum.

We rolled into town, and Shira had booked us a room at The Landing Hotel, more or less, right down the block with a neighbor of an excellent brewpub – Bull Island - and with restaurants abounding.

Looking out from our window facing the museum we knew that this was going to be special.

The Virginia Air & Space Science Center is celebrating more than 25 years of educational excellence as the of cial visitor center for NASA Langley Research Center.

Located in Hampton, Virginia, the birthplace of America’s space program, the Virginia Air & Space Science Center features interactive aviation exhibits spanning 100 years of ight, from the beginnings of manned ight to where we are today, bringing it all to its visitors in a succinct and informative manner, with more than 30 historic aircraft, a hands-on space exploration gallery, unique space ight artifacts, and more! The Center is home to the Apollo 12 Command Module and the Orion PA-1 Test Vehicle… and that is just the beginning.

The Center’s aircraft depict a number of aviation rsts and milestones.

Our room at The Landing faced both the pier with its many private craft and the center itself – ships of a more altitudinal nature - and, even at night when closed, the Virginia Air & Space Science Center is a showpiece and sight to behold with its giant windows allowing a peek inside at some of those magni cent ying machines illuminated from inside.

The museum opened at 10 am – and we were already at the door.

As we strolled into the large, open, and airy building we were taken with the wonderfully displayed models of aircraft through time that dominated the very beginning of the museum’s lower level.

The Great Masking had brought back the model maker in us and Backroads Central has a plethora of military aircraft – albeit mostly small Snap-Tite models, as 8+ years is a skill level we are comfortable with! The reproductions here were beautiful and so well crafted.

Opposite these were a couple of jet aircraft engines and we wondered how big a diversion we would need to create to snag the Pratt & Whitney F119 F-22 engine and shoehorn it into our Dodge Durango, as we all need 35,000 lbs. of thrust, right?

Across from the F-22 engine was a Pershing Missile and above that, a plethora of some of the greatest aircraft ever own. Bell P-39Q Airacobra, Convair F-106B Delta Dart, F-18, F-16, F4 Phantom, F104 Star ghter, and a replica of the Wright Flyer and even a humble Piper J-3 Cub – the peoples plane!

We were like kids in a toy store – a very serious and adult toy store.

Much as I am bamboozled by military aircraft it

BACKROADS • MAY 2022 was the spacecraft on view here at the Virginia Air & Space Science Center that were truly amazing. Gemini and Mercury craft and more…But, one, in particular, grabbed our attention.

On November 14, 1969, Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean were launched atop a Saturn 5 rocket heading to Luna. Things did not start well as shortly after being launched on a rainy day at Kennedy Space Center, Apollo 12 was twice struck by lightning just a minute after launch, causing instrumentation problems but little damage. Switching to the auxiliary power supply resolved the data relay problem, saving the mission.

There was also the Rum Incident – but I will let you all search that one out.

Here at the museum, you can see the Apollo 12 Command Module. When I approached a young woman stated, “Wow, it looks like hell.” I said, “Your right, as it has own right through it.”

The command module pierced the Earth’s atmosphere traveling at 36,237 feet per second and became engulfed in a reball burning at 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It looks it! Simply amazing to get that close to such an important historical spacecraft.

There are plenty of hands-on displays, including ight simulators – I may have not stuck the landing of my plane but Shira crashed the Space Shuttle. You can spend hours here and that is before you take in one of the many lms they show during the day on the IMAX screen… one of the largest in the state.

Of course, they have a gift shop – what museum does not – but this one has some very interesting and desirable chachkas for sure.

We found the Virginia Air & Space Science Center to be a great combination of educating, interesting, amazing, and, most of all, fun.

We think a return visit will be in order. ,