Tulsa Air and Space Museum
Tulsa, Oklahoma
There's more air than space in this museum, which unfortunately lost in its bid to acquire a retired Space Shuttle. But it does have a mini-shuttle recreated launch with glowing rocket engines, a Shuttle Robotic Arm that you can manipulate, and a Space Maneuvering Unit simulator that makes you feel as unstable as an air hockey puck.
On the air side, the museum exhibits around a dozen tightly-packed aircraft with some connection to Oklahoma. Look for the "Spartan," a no-frills airplane built in Tulsa and priced to appeal to frugal shoppers during the Great Depression.
In Jan. 2016 the museum unveiled "MD-80: Flight Theater," a kind of planetarium and motion-master ride inside a retired jetliner. You sit in First Class cabin seats, and then video projectors "peel the roof off" the plane as you go for a simulated ride over Oklahoma and through a Tulsa thunderstorm.