Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Facts for Kids

*Intrepid* Sea, Air & Space Museum

Established	1982
Location	12th Avenue and 46th Street, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Founder	Zachary Fisher and Elizabeth M. Fisher
Public transit access	Bus: M12, M42, M50 Subway: at 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is an American military and maritime history museum in New York City with a collection of museum ships. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street, along the Hudson River, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan. The museum showcases the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the cruise missile submarine USS Growler, a Concorde SST, a Lockheed A-12 supersonic reconnaissance plane, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. On the lower deck there is also a reproduction of a World War I biplane.

Founded in 1982, the museum closed in 2006 for a 1.5-year renovation of Intrepid and facilities. Those included new exhibits. The museum reopened to the public on November 8, 2008.

History
Selected exhibits
Events
Images for kids
See also

History

Museum entrance

The museum in 1982

Early years

The museum opened in 1982 at Pier 86 after prominent New York real estate developers Zachary and Larry Fisher, 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, the museum was awarded USS Growler, a Grayback-class submarine, which carried nuclear Regulus missiles, by the United States Congress from the United States Navy. The submarine is on display after extensive renovations were performed in 2009.

USS Edson, a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer was displayed at the Intrepid museum from 1989 to 2004. The Edson 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

Aerial view of the museum from the Hudson River, 2011

On October 5, 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 York City (previously the Military Ocean Terminal) to undergo restoration.

The scheduled move was delayed on June 3, 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 July 4, 2006, after extensive dredging operations. The aircraft carrier was later floated to Yankee Island where her museum facilities were upgraded and expanded before returning to her renovated pier in Manhattan.

The carrier was towed back to Pier 86 on October 31, 2008, and reopened to the public on November 23. 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

Main page: Space Shuttle Enterprise

Enterprise being lowered onto Intrepid in 2012

On December 12, 2011, ownership of the Space Shuttle Enterprise was transferred to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. In preparation for the 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 then moved by barge to the Intrepid Museum on June 3, 2012.

To make room for the Enterprise display, three aircraft were transferred to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum near Schenectady, New York. These aircraft are a Douglas F3D Skyknight, a Royal Navy Supermarine Scimitar, and a MiG-15.

Memorial Wall: The names of all who died on Intrepid from 1943 to 1974.

The Enterprise went on public display July 19, 2012, at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's new Space Shuttle Pavilion. The exhibit was closed in October 2012 due to damage from Hurricane Sandy. The pavilion and exhibit reopened on July 10, 2013.

Selected exhibits

Flight deck of Intrepid

USS Growler

British Airways Concorde G-BOAD seen next to Intrepid

US Air Force:

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon that was flown in Operation Desert Storm

US Navy:

USS Intrepid (CV-11) used in the World War II and in the Vietnam War
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
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 War-era Bell UH-1 Iroquois

US Coast Guard:

Sikorsky H-19
Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard

US Central Intelligence Agency:

Lockheed A-12 (predecessor of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and first production example)

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 Intrepid 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 Intrepid.