The Beijing Air and Space Museum is a museum in Ha...

The Beijing Air and Space Museum is a museum in Haidian Qu, Beijing China. The museum is part of the Beihang University, one of China s most prestigious engineering schools. It was founded in 1985 under its original name the Beijing Aviation Museum. The museum has 8,300 square meters of exhibition area. Today, there are currently four permanent exhibitions on display: Dream by the Sky, Silver Eagles Air Patrol, Shenzhou Qiantang and the Air-day Corridor. According to the museum, the collection, protection and exhibition of aviation objects is one of the important symbols to measure the degree of development of aviation industry and the strength of cultural relics in a country . In 1985 the Beijing Aviation museum was founded as part of the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics; in 1986 it was officially opened to the public. The mission of the museum is to support the teaching and popularize the scientific and technical knowledge of aviation. In 2002 the name of the school was changed to the Beihang University. The university is considered to be one of china's best engineering schools and is highly influential to the country s aeronautical and space industries. After renovations, in 2012 the museum reopened as the Beijing Air and Space Museum. This was the first aerospace science and technology museum built in China. The museum carries over 300 domestic and international aerospace items including plane structures, engines and equipment. Because the museum is part of a university many classes about aircraft structure, landing gears, missiles and other plane related topics are given there. The doors of the museum are generally open to its students but it is also open to the public through tours. The building that houses the museum was designed by the architecture firm Hetzel Design. The building, called Futura City Beijing Air and Space Museum also has 18 interactive exhibits, 3 theaters, children s astronaut training center and more. The 43,000 square meter building is part of the Futura City scheme which was the firm s idea that they should break away from the standard city grid formation and introduce meandering boulevards leading to a large central park''. The problem the firm faced was connecting the parks to the building. They came up with the idea of a bridge, and after many renderings decided that the bridge should actually be part of the building. The bridge is a focal point of the buildings design as it looks like a plane taking off. Even before opening day the building drew crowds due to its design. The building won several awards.