Air and space museum to relaunch in spring on Main Street, Hyannis – Cape Cod Times

Armstrong's restored spacesuit goes on display

The spacesuit that Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong wore on the moon is back on display in mint condition. The suit was rehabbed before it was unveiled Tuesday by Vice President Mike Pence at the Air and Space Museum. (July 16)

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HYANNIS Tales of the skies will be told closer to the sea when the Massachusetts Air and Space Museum reopens this spring in downtown Hyannis.

The two-year-old boutique museum, which explores the history of aviation and space exploration with a focus on ties to Massachusetts people and companies, has relocated to 434 Main St., in a former furniture store that was most recently an annex to Sturgis Charter Public Schools east campus.

Officials last week moved almost all of its equipment, materials and exhibits which have included a spacesuit, a vintage F-106 fighter flight simulator and a three-quarter-scale Aeronca single-engine airplane model into storage at the new site in advance of some hoped-for renovations to the space, according to Keith Young, director of public relations. The relocation came after the museum's lease ended in late November because of planned redevelopment around its original home atthe Capetown Plaza strip mall along Route 132.

Both officials of the museum which waschallenged by opening just a few weeks before the pandemic began and the downtown business district believe the new lease at the Main Street location will be a boon for various reasons.

While the exhibition space about 5,000 square feet is about the same size as the former site, Youngsaid, another 2,100 square feet is available for other uses. One big difference will be a room where the museum can for the first time offer talks, presentations and community events, he said.

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We expect to see an increase in foot traffic in the downtown area vs. having to drive to the Route 132 plaza, Young said, though he notes there is plenty of parking for visitors, too.We're excited to be moving on to Main Street and we're looking forward to a good year, he said. Hopefully, all of the Cape will see a rebound from difficulties in tourism, (and)were excited and hopeful.

The museum will now also bepart of what Elizabeth Wurfbain, executive director of the Hyannis Main Street Business Improvement District, called a sense of an enclave of similar sites and a nexus of cultural institutions within walking distance.

She named the Cape Cod Melody Tent, the HyArts District, the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, the Zion Union Heritage Museum and the Cape Cod Maritime Museum as parts of that. I think that it's so smart for (the air and space museum)to be in this historic district rather than where they were before, she said.I think they wanted to be part of a community thats walkable and that has the year-round population using the downtown as well as the visitors.

Wurfbain particularly noted the connection between space and President Kennedys push to put a man on the moon. One of the Massachusetts Air and Space Museum exhibits is a Gemini spacesuit made by the David Clark Co., of Worcester.

Hyannis businesses aim to draw families and other visitors to the Main Street area, saidWurfbain, and another attraction like the museum is welcome as part of plans by the town, the Business Improvement District and the Hyannis Chamber of Commerce.

"Everybody is looking for something to do," she said of visitors and residents. While there are a lot of activities and events downtown, more and more we have to add in things like playgrounds, museums, public spaces that are interactive or even private businesses that offer something to do. Thats key. … That family-friendly atmosphere is a big, important branding point … that theres something for everyone on Main Street.

The air and space museum was founded as a nonprofit organization in 2007 and had raised more than $1 million when it opened, but had never had a physical location, Joseph Dini, chairman of the museums board of directors and its vice president and CFO, told the Times in 2020. The Cape location was finally chosen, he said then, because the opportunities for us, the Cape and visitors are boundless in Hyannis.

Roland Bud Breault, former longtime manager of Barnstable Municipal Airport who retired in 2018, is a member of the museums board of directors, according to the museum website.

Massachusetts' achievements in air and space touted when the museum first opened include inventions that helped man get to the moon; an attempt to fly a glider off the Old North Church in the 1700s; the first aerial photograph, taken over Boston Common from a tethered balloon in the 1800s; the flight of the first seaplanes off Gloucester in the early 1900s; the worlds first liquid fuel rocket being fired in Worcester in the 1930s; and the first commercial jet engines being built by General Electric in Lynn during the 1940s.

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On Monday, Young declined to be more specific than spring about the museums reopening date because bids have not yet gone out for the hoped-for construction work on the new space. Exactly how the museum will be reconfigured, and how much of the proposed renovation can happen, when, and how much it will all cost will depend on bids, and supply and worker availability, he said.

Those factors may impact funds and our availability to move forward (with renovations) and we may have to pivot," he said, "but as of right now, Im pretty hopeful that well be OK.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

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Air and space museum to relaunch in spring on Main Street, Hyannis - Cape Cod Times