Formerly known as Aerospace Hall and part of the California Museum of Science and Industry, the Air and Space Gallery had been closed from 1998 to April of 2002, for building renovations, and updated to offer visitors a rich, one-of-a-kind exhibition experience.

Inside the visually stimulating, multi-level interior of the Air & Space Gallery, real air and spacecraft are suspended overhead, frozen mid-flight. Visitors will be able to probe the challenges of aeronautics and space exploration and see actual air and space craft used to journey into unknown realms.

The Air and Space Gallery's interior space reaches seven stories high allowing many exhibit artifacts to be suspended. Planes such as the F20 Northrop jet fighter and historic Bell X-1 rocket plane, deep space probes such as prototypes for the Jupiter-bound Pioneer 10 and Mars-bound Viking Lander, and satellites such as the Uhuru x-ray telescope, can be viewed from the multi-level balconies. Other artifacts from NASA's early "manned" space program help interpret the dangers of spaceflight and include floor-mounted space capsules such as the actual Gemini 11 capsule, flown by astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon, and the Mercury Redstone 2 capsule that carried Ham, the chimpanzee. Other floor-mounted artifacts, all 1/5 scale, include important orbiting observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope, Infra Red Astronomy Satellite and Chandra X-ray telescope.

Architectural Highlights
The building was designed by noted architect Frank O. Gehry and its opening coincided with the 1984 Olympics held nearby in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Renovations were completed by Fremer | Savel Architects, Inc. and reflect the firm's ability to creatively synthesize practical and innovative design solutions.