The Armstrong Air and Space Museum unveiled its newest renovations Saturday morning.
WAPAKONETA — A new year makes way for new improvements for the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. On Saturday morning, the Wapakoneta museum revealed its newest changes and updates.
“We are excited about this brand new lobby and store experience,” Dante Centuori, the museum’s executive director, said.”We have been working on it for a while now; probably a year and a half — we could not work on the lobby without shutting down the museum and the only real time to do that was the first couple weeks of the year.”
The museum added a new carpet to the lobby, a new chandelier, new store items and what was described as a more open entryway. The renovations are just the start of what is to come as the museum plans to continue making improvements.
“We have done different renovations in the museum,” Centuori said. “In 2019, we opened a new classroom. It has been around 30 years since we did something major to the lobby. We are over 50 years old, so we had to look at everything.”
Currently, the museum details the moon exploration of Neil Armstrong and the other Ohioans who have traveled into space.
”We are just in the beginning,” museum curator Logan Rex said. “There are other phases of renovation coming later in the month — we will have a new Armstrong timeline. We will also have an updated astronaut wall that will be out on the front hallway — it recognizes the 26 Ohioans that have been to space.”
Rex also said the museum is analyzing all the galleries throughout the museum to try and provide a better experience.
The museum is also preparing for the upcoming solar eclipse in the spring. According to Centuori, the museum has over 40,000 visitors each year.
“We are ready (for the eclipse),” Centuori said. “We are close to the centerline, just like a lot of communities in this area. We are expecting a huge influx of visitors who want to see the eclipse and get as much totality as possible — we have the added attraction of being the hometown of Neil Armstrong. It is a moon eclipse, so it is just perfect.”
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
