The intent of the Massachusetts Air and Space Museum exhibits, environments and displays is to foster the interests of the visitor in the wide range of aviation, Massachusetts’s history, and space exploration. This will be accomplished, in addition to actual air and spacecraft, through a diverse use of interactive communication and display devices, all of which will be specifically geared toward making aviation and space come alive to the visitor.
Exhibits will be grouped by era, each era telling a story of the evolution and development of aviation, and including how Massachusetts people contributed to the story. Telling a story is a proven way to involve the visitor with the exhibits and learn the discovery process as it evolved.
The museum is intended to be “hands-on” as possible. One of the barriers many museums present is the “look-but-don’t-touch” style of exhibition. The mass and tactile presence of an airplane or spacecraft is just theoretical when you can view it but not reach out and feel the contours, touch the rivets, and sense both the solidity and fragility.
In the 21st century, it is easy to make everything computer driven and interactive, but many times this leaves the viewer doing little more than they might do on the internet. Massachusetts Air and Space Museum will move beyond a series of flashy software displays. The exhibits will utilize not only airplanes, spacecraft, artifacts and computers, but also mechanical and physically interactive exhibits to bring the content alive.
Wherever possible objects on display will be accessible to the visitor, rather than roped off. Working versions that demonstrate the development of technology will be used to immerse the visitor in the evolution of flight, from the first attempt to create effective control surfaces to the ergonomics of a space shuttle pilot’s control yoke. Concepts traditionally left untaught will be addressed, such as basic of how aero/space navigation works now, and how it has evolved from lighted markers on through to inertial navigation and GPS, and what may be coming in the future. Exhibits will serve to open student’s minds to the roles of the myriad participants who contribute to making an aircraft fly, a spacecraft launch and return. The core role of the museum’s home airport will reinforce the reality of what is seen and experienced.
