There\u2019s much more to Balboa Park\u2019s Air and Space Museum than static displays of historic flight \u2014 it\u2019s an aerial circus at ground level. There\u2019s no one better at the controls than executive director Jim Kidrick, a one-time Navy fighter pilot and former organizer of major air shows. He even headed the Mission Bay Bayfair hydroplane races for eight years. Museum officials have added a 3-D\/4-D theater as a coupled entertainment entry with the ongoing “Science of Aliens” exhibit. There\u2019s a kid\u2019s hangar, an observation deck and many historical planes with scenes that depict progress of flight. Throughout are video presentations. “(Previously), we had taken a survey and found that 81 percent of our visitors were from out of the area,” Kidrick said. “Now, its 45, 46 and even 48 percent from our region. We have quadrupled the length of time of the average visit. There\u2019s always something different like the observation deck in the back patio. “Have a hot dog or Slurpee and listen to the airport tower\u2019s instructions as airliners fly over,” he said. “The experience (here) should be fun. These displays become more receptive when they can educate and inspire. A family in the past might say, \u2018We\u2019re going to the museum,\u2019 and it would sound as though you\u2019re taking them to the dentist.” He said in mid-August four additional joint strike simulators of the new F-35 Lightning program will be in place. Coming in February to replace the “Aliens” exhibit will be NASA\u2019s supported “Space: A Journey to our Future.” It\u2019s about space \u2014 from the beginning to the end \u2014 with many interactive things. “I saw it at the SmIthsonian,” Kidrick said. “We\u2019ll have an additional 3,000 to 4,000 square feet for it than they did.” Previous traveling exhibits have been “Star Trek” and “The Da Vinci Experience.” The “Aliens” exhibit is broken into four sections: alien fiction, alien science , alien worlds and alien communication. The “Science of Aliens” exhibit\u2019s limited engagement has extended well beyond January. The 3-D\/4-D Zable Theater seats 36 guests and employs unique special effects. They are played continuously each day at no extra cost. Just add some exciting motion with the depth of third dimension. One film is about a schoolboy\u2019s mythical jetpack adventure past skyscrapers and over freeways. The other is an exciting trip in the legendary Apollo 11 as it shoots to the moon. Then look back with an eye-popping view of Earth. Funding for the theater was provided by the Walter J. Zable and Betty C. Zable Foundation, Cubic Corporation and the San Diego Air & Space Technology Center. The Kid\u2019s Aviation Action Hangar offers preschoolers magnetic toys and aviation coloring books, with art equipment to sketch aircraft or to pedal planes. Grade-schoolers can board flight simulators or romp on the moon\u2019s surface in space suits. Kidrick likes to discuss the many positive changes taking place. It\u2019s a busy place.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s much more to Balboa Park\u2019s Air and Space Museum than static displays of historic flight \u2014 it\u2019s an aerial circus at ground level. There\u2019s no one better at the controls than executive director Jim Kidrick, a one-time Navy fighter pilot and former organizer of major air shows. He even headed the Mission Bay Bayfair […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":282736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11556","_seopress_titles_title":"Air & Space Museum ramps up appeal","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11556,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-downtown-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}