Museum PR Announcements News and Information

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force staff make room for Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer

Aircraft in the Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force will be rearranged the week of Aug. 13 to make room for NASA’s first Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT-1). During this time, access to some aircraft may be limited. This includes, but is not limited to, the B-1, F-117, A-10 and F-16.


Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Photo Jack Hoying

Three trainers were built to train astronauts for space missions – CCT-1, CCT-2 and a Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT), which also contained a crew compartment. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is scheduled to receive NASA’s first Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT-1) in late August/early September.

For more than 30 years, CCT-1 was housed in Johnson Space Center’s Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) and was used to train crews from STS-1 through STS-132 as a high-fidelity representation of the Space Shuttle Orbiter crew station for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations. Here, astronauts learned how to operate many of the orbiter sub-systems in more than 20 different classes.

After its arrival, museum and NASA technicians will offload the trainer, reassemble the interior and place it on interim display in the Cold War Gallery. Later, CCT-1 will be moved to a new Space Gallery in the museum’s planned fourth building.

For more information about the CCT-1, please visit www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/cct.asp.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force is located on Springfield Street, six miles northeast of downtown Dayton. It is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day). Admission and parking are free. For more information about the museum, visit www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *