The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is an American military and maritime history museum with a collection of museum ships in New York City. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan. The museum showcases the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the submarine USS Growler, a Concorde SST, a Lockheed A-12 supersonic reconnaissance plane, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
Founded in 1982, the museum closed in 2006 for a two-year renovation of Intrepid and facilities. The museum reopened to the public on November 8, 2008.
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History
Early years
The museum opened in 1982 at Pier 86 after Zachary Fisher and his brother Larry Fisher, prominent New York real estate developers, and philanthropist and journalist Michael Stern saved USS Intrepid from scrapping in 1978. Intrepid became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
On August 8, 1988, this museum was awarded USS Growler, a Grayback-class submarine, which carried the nuclear Regulus missile, by the United States Congress from the United States Navy. This submarine is still on display at the museum after extensive renovations in 2009.
USS Edson, a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer was displayed as an exhibit at the museum from 1989 to 2004. This ship was returned to the United States Navy, and is now on display at the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum in Bay City, Michigan.
In 2001, Intrepid served as temporary field headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as it began its investigation of the September 11 attacks.
2006-2009 renovation
On October 1, 2006, the museum closed for repairs and renovations to the ship and the pier. Intrepid was moved down the Hudson River by tugboat to The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, New Jersey (previously the Military Ocean Terminal) to undergo restoration.
The scheduled move was delayed on November 6, 2006, when the ship's propellers stuck in the thick Hudson River mud, preventing the tugboats from moving the ship out of her berth. A second successful attempt was made on December 5, 2006, after extensive dredging operations. The aircraft carrier was later floated to Staten Island where her museum facilities were upgraded and expanded before returning to her renovated pier in Manhattan.
The carrier was towed back into place on the Hudson River on October 2, 2008, and reopened to the public on November 8. Additional aircraft are displayed on the flight and hangar decks and the British Airways Concorde was moved from a barge into an exhibit space on the pier.
Space Shuttle Enterprise
On December 12, 2011, ownership of the Space Shuttle Enterprise was transferred to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. In preparation for the anticipated relocation, engineers evaluated the vehicle in early 2010 and determined that it was safe to fly on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft once again. On April 27, 2012 Enterprise was flown to JFK International Airport and was moved by barge to the Intrepid Museum on 3 June 2012.
To make room for the Enterprise display, three aircraft are being transferred to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum near Schenectady, NY. These aircraft are a Douglas F3D Skyknight, a Royal Navy Supermarine Scimitar, and a MiG-15.
The Enterprise went on public display Thursday, July 19, 2012 at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's new Space Shuttle Pavilion.
The exhibit was closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy. The pavilion and exhibit reopened on July 10, 2013.
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Selected exhibits
US Air Force:
- General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon that was flown in Operation Desert Storm
- Lockheed A-12 (predecessor of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and first production example)
US Navy:
- USS Growler (1989), a diesel electric submarine which carried out nuclear deterrent patrols armed with Regulus missiles.
- Grumman F-14 Tomcat used in 1973 as a Super Tomcat prototype
- Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
- Beechcraft T-34 Mentor trainer
- Grumman TBM Avenger
- Grumman E-1 Tracer
- Grumman F-11 Tiger that was once the number 5 jet on the Blue Angels
- North American FJ-2/-3 Fury
- Vought F-8 Crusader
- Grumman A-6 Intruder that was used as a testbed for new radar and avionics in 1988
- McDonnell F3H Demon
- Grumman F-9 Cougar currently under restoration
- Piasecki H-25
- Douglas A-1 Skyraider
US Marine Corps:
- McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
- Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier V/STOL attack aircraft
- Bell AH-1J Sea Cobra gunship
US Army:
- A Vietnam-era Bell UH-1 Iroquois
US Coast Guard:
- Sikorsky H-19
- Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard
NASA:
- Aurora 7 Mercury capsule replica
- Space Shuttle Enterprise (within a pavilion on the flight deck)
Other aircraft:
- British Airways Concorde G-BOAD (2004). This airplane set a world's speed record for passenger airliners on February 7, 1996, when it flew from New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. This airplane logged the most flying hours (23,397) of the 20 Concordes built.
- An Italian Aermacchi MB-339, painted in the colors of the Frecce Tricolori
- A French Dassault Étendard IV
- An Israeli IAI Kfir
- A Polish built PZL-Mielec Lim-5 (MiG-17)
- A Polish Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
Other spacecraft:
- A Russian Soyuz descent module, which had docked with the International Space Station during the Soyuz TMA-6 mission
Other attractions:
- Exploreum, an interactive hall designed to educate children and adolescents about life on an aircraft carrier.
- An Olympus 593 jet engine from a Concorde sits on display next to the G-BOAD Concorde.
Educational programming:
- The Museum hosts educational programs and events focused on STEM education
Events
The museum serves as an event space for community and national events. For instance, it held concerts during the 2013 MLB All-Star Weekend, and 2014's Super Bowl XLVIII, where the museum docked cruise ship Norwegian Getaway, turned into the "Bud Light Hotel". The museum serves as a hub for the annual Fleet Week events. Visiting warships dock at the cruise ship terminals to the north, and events are held on the museum grounds and the deck of the Intrepid.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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