Strategic Air and Space Museum

The Strategic Air and Space Museum is a museum focusing on aircraft and nuclear missiles of the United States Air Force. It is located near Ashland, Nebraska, along Interstate 80 southwest of Omaha. The objective of the museum is to preserve and display historic aircraft, missile, and space vehicles and provide educational resources. It is regarded as having one of the top collections of strategic aircraft. The museum is located near several other tourist attractions including the Platte River State Park, the Mahoney State Park, the Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, several golf courses, and a soon-to-be vineyard.

History
Offutt Air Force Base in eastern Nebraska became the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command in 1948, and continues as the headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command. The museum at Offutt, adjacent to Bellevue, a suburb south of Omaha, began with its first airplane in 1959 as the Strategic Aerospace Museum. General Curtis LeMay's vision of a museum that preserved historic aircraft had become a reality. Over the following years, the outdoor museum's name changed to the Strategic Air Command Museum or SAC Museum.

On May 16, 1998, after a $33 million grass roots capital campaign, it moved indoors to a location more accessible to the public, between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska's largest population centers.

On June 15, 2001, the name of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Museum was officially changed to the Strategic Air & Space Museum. This change incorporated the museum's rich past while attempting to reach a larger audience through dynamic programming and exciting educational programs that seek to captivate the interests and imaginations of everyone.

The Museum is a $29.5 million, 300000 sqft building that features a glass atrium, two aircraft display hangars, a traveling exhibit area, a children's interactive gallery, a 200-seat theater, a museum store, an aircraft restoration gallery, and a snack bar. The glass atrium is constructed of 525 glass panels that encase a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The two aircraft display hangars protect the aircraft collection and exhibits from harsh outdoor elements. The museum participates in an exhibit exchange program with other national museums and displays them in the traveling exhibit area. Three large missiles are displayed vertically outdoors in front of the museum.

Collection
The museum's collection includes examples of most aircraft operated by the Strategic Air Command, including:
 * Avro Vulcan, one of three on display in the United States
 * Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
 * Boeing B-29 Superfortress
 * Boeing B-47 Stratojet
 * Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
 * Boeing KC-97G Stratofreighter
 * Boeing EC-135 Looking Glass
 * Convair B-36J Peacemaker, one of only four surviving
 * Convair B-58 Hustler
 * McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, one of only two ever produced
 * Lockheed U-2C Dragon Lady
 * Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird - 61-7964
 * North American B-25 Mitchell (sectioned fuselage) 44-28738
 * Apollo Block I Command Module, flown on AS-201
 * Rockwell B-1A Lancer, one of only two surviving
 * General Dynamics FB-111A Aardvark S/N 68-0267
 * Republic F-105D Thunderchief tail number 61-0069, mounted on a pedestal south of the museum near I-80

Other Air Force museums

 * See: National Museum of the United States Air Force and National Museum of the USAF #Other Air Force museums