ACE Demonstration Project

Demonstration Project

The first of several interactive and participatory exhibits arrived at the museum on 6 February 2003. After assembly and testing they became the cornerstone of an in-house demonstration project to test the feasibility and audience response to the idea of creating a fully-fledged Aerospace Center for Education facility on the museum grounds.

The ACE Demonstration Project's first real "trial by fire" was on "Food for Life Day" on 20 September 2003. School-age children and their parents mobbed the area all day, trying out the T-37 cockpit trainer, B-25 flight simulator, T-6 "windtunnel," and other educational exhibits. These exhibits were designed and created by students and instructors at Utah State University in collaboration with the ACE development committee.

Based on the response from that successful experiment and other smaller school tours, it was decided to construct an "expanded version" of the ACE within the confines of the Lindquist Stewart Gallery. Construction got underway in February 2004 and was completed in time for Food for Life Day on September 18, 2004. Hopefully, one day soon it will be open whenever the museum is open, allowing all visitors to enjoy these exciting new exhibits. It is still our hope that one day in the future a separate building will be constructed on the Museum grounds for the "full-sized" ACE.