Air Zoo Blog
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025
Attention Paid to Neurodiverse Aerospace Stars on Our Exhibit Floor
Many space enthusiasts know Astronaut Scott Kelly as the first American to live for a whole year in space. In 2015, Scott spent 340 days on the International Space Station during the Soyuz TMA-16M mission. What folks may not know is that this history-making astronaut lives with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Because this neurodevelopmental syndrome can cause distractibility, restlessness, and trouble with concentration, Scott struggled to pay attention dur...
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Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025
Artifact of the Month: October
Item 2015.032.006
Food Container, SMEAT, Skylab
Produced by the Whirlpool Corporation, canisters like this one were designed to hold food and drink aboard Skylab, the United States’ first space station. While this container never left the ground, it was nevertheless part of a critical mission – the Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test, or SMEAT.
The Skylab program not only represented a new direction for the American space program, but also a great deal of un...
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at Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025
Thursday, Aug 28, 2025
Secret Event at AZO 59 Septembers Ago
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During the summer of 1966, clandestine plans simmered around the Kalamazoo Municipal Airport, what we know today as AZO. Jack P. DeBoer, president of the Kalamazoo County Pilots Association (KCPA) penned a letter to association members asking them to keep their lips sealed. Jack and his team planned the “KCPA Fun Day,” scheduled for September 10, 1966, at Kalamazoo Municipal Airport. They strategically billed the event as a day ripe with competitive flying sports and a...
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at Thursday, Aug 28, 2025
Thursday, Aug 28, 2025
Artifact of the Month: September
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Item 1998.094.001
Target Kite, Mk. I, Japanese Zero
Kites are one of the oldest flying machines and have been used for military purposes for thousands of years. It may surprise some that this history also includes World War II. Designed to train antiaircraft gunners, this month’s artifact also features the story of one of aviation history’s greatest advocates, Paul Garber.
Born in 1889, Garber’s aviation journey began with a kite gifted to him ...
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at Thursday, Aug 28, 2025
Thursday, Jul 31, 2025
Artifact of the Month: August
Item 2010.023.017
Booklet: “Souvenir of Steamer Greater Buffalo”
This month’s featured artifact comes from an era before modern airliners and even the interstate highway system, when travelling around the Great Lakes might mean boarding a steamship and a summer cruise might be to northern Michigan rather than the Caribbean. From the 1880s to the 1950s, passenger ships of all sizes plied the lakes carrying holiday makers to remote resorts or between cit...
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Thursday, Jul 31, 2025
Mars’s First Two Artifacts and One for the Air Zoo
This summer, while giving guests a Space Wing tour, our exhibits team encountered a good question. We stood before a recent NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) loan associated with the beginnings of Mars exploration. One guest gave the artifact some serious inspection. She furrowed her brow with perplexion before asking if our Restoration Team had been involved in restoring the robotic spacecraft. She inquired because she saw no dirt, dust, rust, or red soil on the 1970s lander. “If i...
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Air Zoo Brings You Adventurous New Special Exhibit
Extreme Sports: Beyond Human Limits invites you to challenge yourself as you jump, fly, dive and climb, while exploring some of the most extreme sports in the world. In this action-packed exhibit, find out what it takes to maximize your potential while you discover the psychology and science behind the thrills and spills of adventure sports!
Check out this list of interactive learning opportunities: You can challenge your balance on a high-line, try out a parkour course, and enter a vi...
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Artifact of the Month: July
Object in Processing (2025)
Toy, Stuffed Animal, Snoopy, Apollo-era
Though perhaps better known for dueling the Red Baron, the character of Snoopy has also hitched rides on numerous American space missions. Created by cartoonist Charles Schultz for his Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy “joined” NASA in 1968. Schultz, an avid supporter of the space program, produced all art for the NASA partnership free of charge.
First appearing on posters and banners for NASA&rsquo...
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Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Artifact of the Month: June
Object 2002.053.001
Sonobuoy, Training, AN/SSQ-47, United States Navy
Since the earliest years of military aviation, aircraft have been one of the most effective counters to submarines. One of the most effective ways to find something underwater, including submarines, is to listen for the sounds they make. This month’s featured artifact is designed to do just that.
Called a sonobuoy – a portmanteau of ‘sonar’ and ‘buoy’ – these compact ...
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at Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Local Aviation History in June
Let’s look back on some local and state aviation-based history that took place in June!
June 1911 Equipped with a Wright airplane, the Aero Club assigned pilot Frank R. Coffyn to give passenger-carrying demos to Grosse Pointe Country Club Members. Of the 45 flights he made, introducing 41 Detroiters to the thrill of flying, Frank flew socialite Marion Alger. On that June day, Marion became Michigan’s first woman to fly as a passenger. The first to make the papers, anywa...
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at Tuesday, May 27, 2025
He Taught Sue to Fly!
What do Orville Wright and the Kalamazoo Battle Creek International Airport (AZO) have in common? Two words: Irv Woodhams.
Portage native, Irving T. Woodhams (1898-1993) grew up on a family farm bordering what became Charles A. Lindbergh Field, today, AZO. In the mid-1920s, in his standard J-1 airplane, Irv made history as the first to take off on a solo flight from the burgeoning airfield. Two years later, he earned his pilot’s license. The National Aeronautic Association ...
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Artifact of the Month: May
Object 1999.179.004 Cap, Service, Enlisted, United States Navy, USS Von Steuben (ID-3017)
On May 22, 1917, soon after America entered World War I, the United States formally seized several German ocean liners which had taken refuge in American ports early in the war. Among these ships was the SS Kronprinz Wilhelm. Now crewed by U.S. Navy sailors, the ship was renamed the USS Von Steuben after a German hero of the American Revolutionary War. Together with other captured German line...
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Come visit us.
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Great place! Very interesting educational and informational! Great place to take the whole family as there is something for young children up to adults!
blackeyedsusan2018
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We took our grown daughters and young grandsons to the Air Zoo. It was very entertaining for all of us. There is so much to see and do. Rides for the whole family!
Rick C