The California Science Center hosted a media preview Tuesday of new aviation exhibits being installed as part of its future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Exposition Park.
The preview offered an early look at the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, a new exhibit space focused on the science of flight and the evolution of aviation technology.
“The Korean Air Aviation Gallery explores how the pursuit to master the sky involves tradeoffs among four forces of flight — lift, thrust, drag, and weight — that affect every aircraft ever flown, whether it flies high, low, fast, or slow,” according to an earlier statement. “The gallery will have three primary thematic areas: Learning to Fly, Everyday Flight, and Advanced Aviation.”
The space is expected to eventually feature about 20 aircraft as part of the larger air and space center.
Among the highlights is a 70-foot forward section of a Korean Air Boeing 747-400, which will serve as a central feature of the exhibit.
“For us to have a 747, such an iconic commercial airliner, as part of this gallery, it’s really going to be the signature experience in the whole aviation gallery,” Perry Roth-Johnson, curator of the exhibits, told KNX News Tuesday.
He said visitors will be able to enter the aircraft’s forward main deck, where a theater will feature a five-minute simulated flight from Los Angeles to Seoul.
“(The plane) was first delivered to Korean Air in ’93,” Roth-Johnson said. “It was retired in 2014, spent about a decade in … in storage before we got ahold of it, took it apart, moved it here to the Science Center, and put it back together.”
Officials said the Korean Air Aviation Gallery already features several aircraft suspended from the ceiling, including a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger, the U.S. Navy’s first supersonic fighter jet; a Convair F-106A Delta Dart, recognized as the fastest single-engine turbojet aircraft; a Pitts Special S-1C aerobatic biplane; and a Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.4, the first operational jet capable of vertical and short takeoffs and landings. The Harrier was the first artifact installed in the gallery.
“Together, we are creating a one-of-a-kind educational resource that will benefit not only the children and youth of our shared Los Angeles community, but will inspire future generations of scientists, engineers, explorers from across the globe,” Jeffrey Rudolph, President and CEO of the California Science Center, said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to our colleagues at Korean Air for their tremendous generosity and partnership in creating a world-class science learning experience in our future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.”
Walter Cho, chairman and CEO of Korean Air and Hanjin Group, said the airline’s support of the California Science Center reflects its longstanding ties to Los Angeles and its commitment to encouraging future generations to explore careers in aviation, engineering and innovation through the new gallery.
Guests “will experiment in a wind tunnel lab to understand the forces that make planes fly; and the Design a Plane Exhibit, where guests will experiment with aircraft design and learn how planes can be engineered to meet the requirements of different flight missions,” the statement read.
The California Science Center Foundation broke ground on the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in 2022. The center will ultimately span about 100,000 square feet across four floors and include three primary exhibit galleries, integrating aircraft and spacecraft with interactive educational displays, officials said.
In addition to the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, the center will feature the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, which will showcase the space shuttle Endeavour in a vertical, “ready for launch” configuration.
The display will include the orbiter mounted with solid rocket boosters and an external tank, offering visitors a rare, full-scale view of the shuttle system.
Officials said the shuttle exhibit will be the only one of its kind in the world, allowing guests to view the spacecraft from multiple levels while learning about its role in advancing human spaceflight and research in low Earth orbit.
The center will also include the Kent Kresa Space Gallery, focused on robotic and human space exploration. The gallery will highlight spacecraft, satellites and telescopes, along with artifacts from major U.S. space programs, including flown capsules from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
The space gallery will be organized into sections examining rocket technology, robotic exploration and human spaceflight, offering visitors a broader look at how technology has expanded scientific understanding of the universe, according to officials.