Thursday, February 7, 2013

Arizona: Pima County Air and Space Museum


We took a break from nature to wander around a giant museum /airfield of airplanes and rockets. We didn’t see it all, but we saw plenty all the same. Row upon row of combat jets, cargo planes, and old jet liners were outside; more warplanes were inside. They had four B-52s and planes from every war from WW II onward, including the SR-71 Blackbird. That SR 71’s a long and sleek plane. I’d always wanted to see one up close and there it was. It was bigger than I’d imagined. Those B-52s were cool, but I liked the F14 and the B17 better. Seeing all the planes brought back fond memories of the recent trip to the War Memorial in Seoul. Pima had many more of them on display. They even had some of the MiGs Rochelle and I saw in Korea.

The museum has separate hangars for WWII planes as well as one for outer space exploration. The outer space one brought back many memories of going to the planetarium. I bet my dad liked the exhibits about the US space program because he used to follow it closely. Him and the generations of those older than Justin and I got to see that stuff as it happened. It probably felt more thrilling to see the moon landing on TV then than it feels to watch the video now. I shouldn’t belittle all that’s happened since my birth year of 1986, but the International Space Station and all the shuttles can’t compare to the Apollo program. The moon landing conjures more wonder because it showed man pushing the limits of science. Also, consider that the space program came amid the tumbling dice changes of the 1960s and it makes for one intriguing era Dad did indeed have a good time. We all did. 

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