The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum in the Seattle cosmopolitan area. It lies at the southern end of King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in the city of Tukwila, immediately south of Seattle. [5] It was established in 1965 and is completely accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. As the biggest private air and space museum in the world, it likewise hosts large K-12 curricula. [6]
The museum draws in over 500,000 visitors every year, [2] and likewise serves more than 140,000 students each year through its onsite programs: a Challenger Learning Center, an Aviation Learning Center, and a summer camp (ACE), along with outreach programs that take a trip throughout Washington and Oregon. [7]
History

The Museum of Flight can trace its roots back to the Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation, which was founded in 1965 to recuperate and restore a 1929 Boeing 80A-1, which had actually been found in Anchorage, Alaska. The repair occurred over a 16-year duration, and after conclusion, was put on display screen as a centerpiece for the museum. In 1968, the name "Museum of Flight" first appeared in usage in a 10,000 sq ft (900 m2) facility, leased at the Seattle Center. Planning began at this time for a more irreversible structure, and initial principles were prepared. [8]
In 1975, The William E. Boeing Red Barn was acquired for one dollar from the Port of Seattle, which had acquired it after Boeing abandoned it throughout World War II. The 1909 all-wooden Red Barn, the original home of the company, was barged 2 miles (3 km) up the Duwamish River to its current area at the southwestern end of Boeing Field. [9] [10] Fundraising was slow in the late 1970s, [11] and after repair, the two-story Red Barn was opened to the public in 1983. [12]
That year a financing campaign was launched, so capital could be raised for building and construction of the T.A. Wilson Great Gallery. In 1987, Vice President George Bush, joined by four Mercury astronauts, cut the ribbon to open the facility on July 10, [12] [13] [14] with an expansive volume of 3,000,000 cubic feet (85,000 m3). The gallery's structure is integrated in an area frame lattice structure and holds more than 20 hanging airplane, including a Douglas DC-3 weighing more than nine tons. [8]
The museum's education programs grew substantially with the structure of an Opposition Learning Center in 1992. This interactive exhibit permits students to experience an Area Shuttle objective. It consists of a mock-up NASA mission control, and experiments from all areas of area research study.

Completed in 1994, the 132-seat Wings Cafe and the 250-seat Skyline multipurpose banquet and conference space increased the museum's footprint to 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2). At the very same time, among the museum's most widely recognized and popular artifacts, the Lockheed M-21, a customized Lockheed A-12 Oxcart developed to bring the Lockheed D-21 reconnaissance drones, [15] was positioned on the floor at the center of the Great Gallery, after being fully restored. [16]
The first jet-powered Air Force One (1959-1962, SAM 970), a Boeing VC-137B, was flown to Boeing Field in 1996