posted 09-20-2006 10:34 AM               

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Cosmosphere Lands Major Exhibit Project with Oregon Museum
Hutchinson space museum to create a comprehensive spaceflight exhibit at the home of the Spruce Goose

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center announced today a development project with the Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, to design and build a comprehensive exhibit on the history of spaceflight. The two-year, $2.4M project is the single largest contract in the Cosmosphere’s rich history of exhibit and replication work for other museums and movie projects.

The Evergreen Aviation Museum, a quickly developing aviation museum and educational facility, located one hour south of Portland, already boasts an impressive collection of aircraft and military history. Home to Howard Hughes’ famous aircraft the Spruce Goose, the museum also includes an SR-71 Blackbird and dozens of other military and commercial aircraft spanning the history of powered flight. In 2005, the Cosmosphere built a full-scale replica of a Lunar Module and a drivable Lunar Rover for Evergreen, which focused the museum on continuing to expand their spaceflight presence.

“The Evergreen Aviation Museum is honored to be teaming with the Kansas Cosmosphere to complete the design of a 35,000 sq. ft. gallery that will be featured in our new world-class space facility,” said Delford Smith, Evergreen’s chairman of the board. “We look forward to offering museum visitors the ultimate educational experience with the combination of the aviation museum, the space museum and the IMAX Theater. The future is above and beyond. What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” Smith continued.

The exhibit, when combined with aircraft and rockets already at Evergreen, will total 35,000 sq. ft. and will anchor a new facility being built next to their existing museum and adjacent IMAX Theater. The exhibit will include dozens of authentic space artifacts, which will be loaned to Evergreen from the Cosmosphere, full-scale replicas of spacecraft and interactive exhibits and simulators all used to tell the story of spaceflight.

“The Cosmosphere is excited to be partnering with the Evergreen Aviation Museum once again on a significant project that will bring the dramatic and inspirational story of human spaceflight to their already world-class aviation museum,” said Jeff Ollenburger, Cosmosphere president and CEO. “We look forward to working closely with their team over the next two years in creating a comprehensive exhibit that will position their museum as one of the leaders in aviation and space education."

The new building and exhibit are scheduled to open in the summer of 2008.

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