Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center
Snapshot
Location: Los Angeles, California
Size: 200,000 sf expansion
Budget: $450,000,000
Open: Construction underway, opening date TBD
Story
Construction is underway on the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, a 200,000 square foot addition to the California Science Center’s main building. This final phase of a 30-year master plan will include a diverse collection of aircraft and spacecraft, immersive experiences, and signature hands-on educational exhibits that encourage active learning through discovery.
As Exhibits Project Manager, we oversaw the selection process, wrote the RFPs, and negotiated the contracts for all the exhibit fabricators, A/V integrators, and media production companies for this complex $400 million project. We are now overseeing exhibit fabrication for a scheduled completion in 2026. We can't wait to see this amazing collection of experiences, authentic artifacts, and media wowing visitors with the science and beauty of aeronautics and space exploration.
The centerpiece of the project will be Space Shuttle Endeavour, an awe-inspiring sight, towering 200 feet tall in vertical, “ready for launch” configuration. It will be the only place in the world to see a complete Space Shuttle system with authentic flight hardware, including the Endeavour orbiter vehicle mated to real solid rocket boosters and its external fuel tank.
There are over 100 new exhibit experiences including interactives, the SPACEHAB, flown Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules, a SpaceX Dragon capsule, a theater in the front portion of a 747 airplane, plus 30 major artifacts and more than 120 other artifacts to immerse visitors in the real scientific tools that help us explore “to infinity and beyond.”