Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is a military and maritime history museum with a collection of museum ships in New York City. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street on the West Side of Manhattan. The museum showcases the World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the submarine USS Growler (SSG-577), a Concorde SST and a Lockheed A-12 supersonic reconnaissance plane. Additionally on April 12, 2011, the museum was awarded the Space Shuttle Enterprise. 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.

Originally founded in 1982, the museum closed in 2006 for a two-year renovation of the Intrepid and facilities. The museum reopened to the public on November 8, 2008, with William White as its president.

History


The museum opened in 1982 at Pier 86 after Zachary Fisher, a prominent New York real estate developer and philanthropist, and journalist Michael Stern succeeded in saving the Intrepid from scrapping in 1978. The USS Intrepid (CV-11) became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

In September 2001, the Intrepid served as temporary field headquarters for the FBI as it began its investigation of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. It is also used in the 2007 film I Am Legend, where Will Smith's character practices golf from the deck.

2006-2009 renovation
On October 1, 2006, the museum closed for repairs and renovations to both the ship and the pier. Intrepid was moved down the Hudson 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 officially transferred to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. On April 27, 2012 Enterprise was flown to JFK International Airport and was moved by barge to the Intrepid Museum on 3 June 2012. 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.

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 Douglass 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.

Selected exhibits

 * US Air Force
 * An F-16 Fighting Falcon that flew in support of Operation Desert Storm
 * The first production Lockheed A-12 (predecessor of the SR-71A)
 * US Navy
 * USS Growler (SSG-577) (1989), a diesel electric submarine which carried out nuclear deterrent patrols armed with Regulus missiles.
 * The seventh F-14 Tomcat built. It was used in 1973 as a Super Tomcat prototype
 * A-4 Skyhawk
 * A Beech T-34 Mentor trainer
 * TBM Avenger
 * E-1 Tracer
 * An F-11 Tiger that was once the number 5 jet on the Blue Angels
 * FJ-2/-3 Fury
 * F-8 Crusader
 * An A-6 Intruder that was used as a testbed for new radar and avionics in 1988
 * An F3H Demon, one of only three on display worldwide.
 * An F-9 Cougar that is currently under restoration
 * Piasecki H-25
 * US Marine Corps
 * F-4 Phantom II
 * AV-8C Harrier
 * AH-1J Sea Cobra
 * US Army
 * A fully restored Army AH-1 Cobra
 * A Vietnam-era UH-1 Iroquois
 * Bell 47
 * US Coast Guard
 * Sikorsky H-19
 * Sikorsky HH-52 Sea Guardian
 * 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
 * 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 MiG-17
 * A Polish 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.

Popular Culture
In the film I am Legend, Will Smith's character hits golf balls off the Intrepid towards New Jersey in a deserted New York City. The vessel was also featured in the film National Treasure. In the book series Percy Jackson & the Olympians this is the temple of Ares, god of war. In the novel Deus Ex: Icarus Effect, the prequel story to the video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution, economic collapse has caused the Intrepid museum to be sold out, and the ship left to be part of the slums.