Oklahoma History Center

The Oklahoma History Center, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, documents the history of the state of Oklahoma and notable Oklahomans, from the state's Native American and Wild West era all the way up to the Space Age.

Of course, the reason that brought me to the Oklahoma History Center was that, at the time, it exhibited Gemini 6, which had been piloted by Oklahoma native Tom Stafford. (Gemini 6 has subsequently been relocated to the Stafford Air & Space Museum and the Oklahoma History Center received the SL-4 (Skylab 3) Command Module during the Smithsonian's renovation, although I haven't visited since either relocation.)

Gemini 6 was located in a bright, sunny hallway. Restored in 2003 by the Cosmosphere, it was encased in what has become the standard Cosmosphere "aquarium" (similar to Liberty Bell 7 at the Cosmosphere, Gemini 3 in Mitchell, Indiana, and Gemini 12 at Adler Planetarium). The combination of the aquarium and the bright sunlight, of course, make for frustrating reflections.

At the time, I found it somewhat odd that the Oklahoma History Center was chosen by the Smithsonian to display Gemini 6, since Stafford Air & Space in Weatherford was only about an hour away from Oklahoma City; Stafford already had a wide array of artifacts from the space program. I was pleased to see that this oversight was eventually corrected.

Aerial view.