Lone Star Flight Museum opens Space Gallery exhibit

Bay Area residents now have a new place they can learn about outer space.

On April 14, Lone Star Flight Museum, 11551 Aerospace Ave., Houston, opened its new permanent exhibit, Space Gallery.

The exhibit features the NASA Crew Compartment Trainer-2, the EVA Airlock System, the Space Shuttle Motion Base Simulator, a rover and other NASA artifacts, all with the goal of giving visitors a deeper understanding of astronaut training and the concept of living and working in space. The equipment is on loan to the museum from the Johnson Space Center.

The new gallery also marks an expanded view of the museum’s content showing the evolution from aviation to aerospace. Many astronauts began their careers as pilots and have backgrounds in military and STEM fields, which the museum already showcases, according to a museum press release.

The new exhibit focuses on each of the training systems and how they were used to train astronauts who have been to space. The gallery features the personal journeys of pilots who became astronauts.

The exhibit also includes displays of medical kits, shuttle tools, an astronaut sleeping bag and other items that show what life is like in space, and the gallery also features personal items from retired NASA astronauts, such as Friendswood Mayor Mike Foreman.

Finally, Space Gallery includes three touchscreens that show the anatomy of a shuttle; a virtual tour of the Crew Compartment Trainer, which also can be viewed in person; and the history of space shuttle missions.

346-708-2517. http://www.lonestarflight.org