The Active Historian

Hey, friend! Welcome back to another post. Today, I want to show you around the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Let’s get stared!

Museum History

In 1993, the Stafford Air & Space Museum was built in Weatherford, Oklahoma. The museum had actually begun two decades earlier in a 6-foot case in a lobby of the Weatherford Airport in the late 1970s displaying a few of Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford’s items for people to see.

The two-room museum opened in 1993. Six more expansions have taken place since then adding 63,000 sq. ft. more to the facility.

Y’all. This museum is massive. You could literally spend hours in here!

You can download the “Star Tour Guide” on the Stafford Air & Space Museum website or grab one at the front desk to “experience the evolution of air and space exploration.” I grabbed the guide below at the front desk and used it throughout the museum. I love these kind of guides because it allows me to move at my own pace!

Photos Inside the Museum

The museum winds around a long path taking you through aviation and space history! I am not well-versed in this history and learned a lot thanks to the “Star Tour Guide” and the plaques on the wall.

The photos below show the Wright Flyer and talk about their journey to flight.

The photo below on the left is item #3 on the Star Tour Guide – the Blèriot XI.

The Spirit of St. Louis is item #6 on the “Star Tour Guide.” Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean!

The rockets in the case below were created at 1/72nd scale to show relative size of rockets used in the Space Race.

One of the things I loved about this museum is that they have actual vehicles that have flown in space like the one below (item #13 on the “Star Tour Guide). The Gemini 6A Spacecraft performed the first rendezvous in space with the Gemini 7 on December 15, 1965.

The Titan II Rocket is item #16 on the “Star Tour Guide” and is massive. As you can see I couldn’t fit it all in a single photo. This is one of the few Titans II missiles that exist to this day. Tom Stafford rode aboard one of these in 1965 and 1966 in the Gemini 6 and 9 missions.

The photos below show various space suits. The Gemini Space Suit was worn by Tom Stafford during the preparation period for his Gemini 6 and 9 missions to space. This Apollo 10 Space Suit was worn by Tom Stafford in May 1969 during the historic Apollo 10 mission to the moon! This suit was in space!

The exhibition below talks about how the rockets were powered to the moon. There was a lot of information in this section that went floor to ceiling!

Stop #25 on the “Star Tour Guide” is the Lunar Module. This is a full-scale replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LW) “Eagle” that took men to the moon. Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.

United States President George H.W. Bush presented General Stafford with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1993. President Bush gave him this medal for “feats of extraordinary accomplishment.” (“Star Tour Guide #30)

Item #35 was the Spacelab Pallet that was actually flew into space three times! Item #38 was the Orion Parachute Test Spacecraft full-scale model used to test and continue developing parachutes for landing.

Stop #39 on the “Star Tour Guide” is model of the International Space Station built at 1/24th of its actual size. This model is still huge!

Item #40 is a full-scale model of the Bell X-1 flown by Captain Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947 when he broke the sound barrier. He named the aircraft after his wife – “Glamourous Glennis.”

Item #41 is a F-86 “Sabre” Fighter and was one of Stafford’s favorite aircraft to fly.

Item #47 on the “Star Tour Guide” is the F-117A “Nighthawk” Stealth Fighter. This particular aircraft in the museum took its first flight on April 14, 1986. It flew numerous missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was officially retired on October 12, 2007.

Concluding Thoughts

I enjoyed visiting the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma. I learned so much information about aviation and space that I had never heard before.

People have been raving about this museum to me for years and I can definitely say that it lived up to its reputation! I would recommend making a special trip to visit this museum in Western Oklahoma and definitely stop if you’re passing through!

Happy traveling! I’ll talk to ya soon 🙂

TRAVEL TIP: This museum is another stop on the Oklahoma Route 66 Passport!

Visit

3000 Logan Road

Weatherford, Oklahoma 73096

TRAVEL TIP: This museum is located at the Weatherford Airport so there were actually planes flying around on the day I visited! There is also a playground next to the museum if you’re traveling with kiddos.

Sources

Stafford Air & Space Museum – website

“Star Tour Guide” – Brochure