Chicago, Ill.
(AP) An Illinois museum that won $1 million in the National Space Council’s 2015 space grant will begin turning over space for its new space museum to the National Aerospace Museum, the museum’s founder said Wednesday.
The National Aerospace Center’s Space Museum will be located in Chicago, and the space museum will be a “new hub for space science, engineering and exploration,” Mike Czuchry said in a statement.
The space museum and the National Museum of the American Indian will each house exhibits and programs on the history of space exploration, Czachry said.
“The National Space Center has always been the hub for this new museum,” Czochry said, adding that it will be the first museum to feature programs from the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution and other space agencies.
The space museum is the first space museum in the nation to be established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Czekchry said after the announcement.
“With this grant, we can provide our community and the world with an educational space for people to learn about space exploration,” he said.
The National Aerospace Council is an industry trade association.
Czuchys company, Space Museum Chicago, is a museum and art gallery that opened in 2014 in downtown Chicago.
Its collection includes more than 70,000 objects, including art, ceramics, glass and more, from space, including NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover.
Its mission is to bring together the collections of museums, libraries, art galleries and other spaces that support space exploration.