Sunday, July 11, 2021

Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum


 At the end of June, my husband and I, and a few friends, visited the The Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum which is located on the former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. 


Transferred from the United States Air Force to a group of volunteers in 1994, Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum is located in Hangar #1 of the former Lowry Air Force Base in eastern Denver, Colorado. Today, the museum boasts more than 182,000 square feet of hangar space full of iconic aircraft, space vehicles, artifacts, military uniforms, and much more. Visitors can also experience flight simulators, discover various educational programs and participate in dozens of exciting museum-sponsored events.   This was the second time my husband and I visited the museum--see my first post about it on this link.




It's such an interesting museum, filled with both permanent and temporary exhibits, and over 50 aircraft and space vehicles.


  

We all wanted to see the 45-minute National Geographic movie that plays every hour in the museum theater called "Living In the Age of Airplanes," narrated by Harrison Ford.  The movie trailer is above, or at this link.  It really is amazing to see how humankind's ability to fly has impacted the world in such a short time!  



This example of a Kitty Hawk Multicopter looks almost like a drone, but it was able to fly one person like a helicopter and was so light it did not require a pilot's license to fly! The company no longer makes them and now wants to focus on more powerful VTOL aircraft that can travel faster and farther and with more occupants. The company already has a new design in the works called the Heaviside.  The era of "flying cars" may soon become a reality!  How much more will that change our world?



There was also a special exhibit at the museum called "All the Cosmos a Canvas--Hubble Reveals Our Beautiful Universe," comprised of these amazing Hubble telescope photos...



...including this signed photo by Loren J. Shriver, the commander of the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31) which lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida, on a mission to place the Hubble Space Telescope in Earth Orbit in April 1990.



Actual Star Wars movie aircraft memorabilia is a big hit at the museum, especially for children.  R2D2 actually whistled at me--the rascal!




Do you remember hearing about "The Miracle on the Hudson" years ago? A commercial passenger jet lost all its engines to bird strikes when flying out of New York's LaGuardia Airport in 2009, and the pilot was able to glide the plane down and land in the Hudson River, saving 155 passengers' lives.  Fortunately, the pilot had learned to fly a glider at the US Air Force base when he was a cadet!



Before we left the museum we stopped a moment to reflect on this stirring sculpture called "Least We Forget The Mission" which honors the more than 88,000 US airmen who died in WWII.
 
Each year, Wings Over the Rockies welcomes roughly 160,000 visitors representing all 50 U.S. states and 28-countries around the world. We certainly enjoyed our visit!

What's new around here...

Thank you to everyone who commented on the book review in my last post. It was an interesting book that made me think quite a bit about my own collections and possessions.  I think we all agree that keeping things that bring us joy in our lives is not a problem, it is only a problem when we find they lead to stress or debt, or become an obsession that we focus on more than life experiences.

We had a very Happy 4th of July...


Our son's community has an annual mini-parade each 4th of July where the residents follow emergency vehicles around the neighborhood. They then host a buffet lunch in the park, have a water splash slide, and face painting for the children, and at night there are some firework displays. Thankfully we had beautiful weather that day and enjoyed it all.

I hope you are also having an enjoyable summer!


PS: A reminder to My Email Subscribers: beginning sometime in July 2021, the Blogger e-mail Feedburner subscription service will be turned off. Therefore, you will no longer receive emails when a new post is published at Mille Fiori Favoriti. I offer you the alternative of joining Bloglovin and subscribing to follow Mille Fiori Favoriti there. You will then receive emails when I publish a new post. Alternatively, you can also make a note of my blog's URL: https://millefiorifavoriti.blogspot.com
and then check weekly, usually on Mondays, for a new blog post. I hope you will use one of these alternatives. Thank you for reading my blog, published since 2007! I look forward to seeing all of you here at Mille Fiori Favoriti.



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24 comments:

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

That museum sounds like a great place! Your 4th looked like it was a lot of fun.

Janice said...

My youngest BIL's father was one of the pilots flying missions in WWII. He was only 18 or 19 years old. As for the Hubble telescope, Mr. Hubble was born in a small Missouri town, Marshfield, next to where we lived in Springfield. Old Route 66 is named Hubble Drive in Marshfield as well as a school and a replica of the Hubble Telescope. He only lived there until he was 11 when the family moved. Thanks for sharing this delightful post.

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

great museum - reminds me of the Smithsonian

ellen b. said...

Glad the 4th shaped up nicely for your celebration. Museums are great contributions to our country!

Ruth Hiebert said...

The air museum would be fascinating . Of course my mind goes to my husband, who loved anything aircraft related. The hubble space images are stunning. There is so muc to see out there, which most of us will never see without someone taking photos of it.

NCSue said...

This looks like a fascinating place to visit and learn.
Thank you for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2021/07/happy-birthday-love.html

stevebethere said...

I enjoyed the photos what a fab museum :-)

Have a tanfastical week 👍

Lydia C. Lee said...

That is cool!! #WonderfulWednesday

Jeanie said...

You really go to the most fun and interesting places, Pat. But then you tell us about them so well! This sounds terrific!

handmade by amalia said...

Oh, I love this! There is so much beauty and romance in those old planes.
Amalia
xo

Bill said...

The museum sounds like a great place to visit and explore. Enjoy your day!

carol l mckenna said...

Wow! Gorgeous photos ~ what a place with beautiful vintage planes ~ Xo

Living in the moment,

A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)

Lady Fi said...

Very cool!

eileeninmd said...

Hello, Pat
Wonderful tour of the Air and Space Museum in Denver. I remember taking my son to the Air/Space museum in DC when he was young. Your 4th of July looks like a fun time too.
Great collection of photos. Take care, enjoy your day!

Jenna H. said...

Looks like a great time! Those Hubble Telescope photos are amazing!
Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? Life of an Earth Muffin

Sharon Wagner said...

I love all the groovy space art/photos. The universe is vast and beautiful. Mysterious too.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

I love aircraft museums and this one looks great.

Those Hubble based photographs are astounding.

We live in a universe of miracles!!

Spare Parts and Pics said...

That looks like a fun place to visit. The multicopter really does resemble a large drone. Very cool!

Rambling Woods said...

A similar museum in DC is great too

Michelle said...

That looks like a great museum. Once again, I LOVE keeping up with you on FB. Thank you for taking the time to link up. Have a GREAT weekend!

betty-NZ said...

What a cool place to visit! It has something for everybody.

I'm so happy to see your link at My Corner of the World this week!

diane b said...

That's a wonderful museum. Im going to look for the movie.

Jocelyn said...

Awesome!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Another Denver attraction I didn't know about! Making a note, just in case!