SEATTLE

A gigantic piece of space history is set to splash down at Seattle's Museum of Flight on Saturday.

Although the Space Shuttle Trainer has never left the earth's atmosphere, museum officials say Seattle has won the biggest prize in the competition to show and explain this period in NASA history, since visitors won't just get to look at this space artifact, they'll be able to climb aboard.

Seattle came in fifth place in the contest among 21 museums and space centers hoping to land one of the nation's four space shuttles after the 30-year program ended last year.

Arriving this weekend at the museum in south Seattle is the nearly 29-foot-long, 19-foot-wide and 23-foot-tall crew cabin of the full-scale plywood mock-up that looks like a space shuttle without wings. The payload bay is scheduled to arrive in two pieces in July and August and a mock-up of the engine section is being assembled locally.

It will cost a total of $2 million to get the trainer to its new home in Seattle. Museum officials say that's another advantage of the trainer over the real space shuttles, which cost as much as ten times as much to move, partly because they can't be disassembled first.

By early October, visitors to the museum near Boeing Field should be able to walk aboard the shuttle trainer, which was used by every astronaut to ever fly aboard a space shuttle. They'll be able to touch and smell the giant vehicle, imagine flying it themselves and maybe even impress their friends by holding their wedding aboard.

"In retrospect, I think we did get something better," said museum president Doug King.

Visitors this weekend and through the months while the trainer is reassembled will be able to visit the gallery and see the work as it progresses.

"It's the first time we've built a gallery in front of the public," King said.

Follow this link:

Giant space artifact comes to Seattle on Saturday