The California Science Center has installed a Korean Air 747 section as construction concludes on a major Los Angeles air and space exhibition centre.
The California Science Center Foundation has marked the installation of the first artefacts in the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, including The 747 Experience, a 70-foot forward section of a Korean Air Boeing 747-400 fuselage. The California Science Center said the installation, supported by Korean Air, also includes four aircraft suspended in the Korean Air Aviation Gallery. The milestone shows how the expansion is combining large-scale aerospace objects with interactive learning rather than presenting aircraft solely as static displays.
The project is part of the Science Center’s 200,000-square-foot Phase III addition, which spans four floors and includes 100,000 square feet of exhibition space. The new centre is planned to contain 100 aerospace artefacts and 100 exhibits across three galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. Building construction was completed in April 2026, while artefact and exhibit installation remains under way and an opening date has not been set.
The Korean Air Aviation Gallery is organised around the four forces of flight—lift, thrust, drag and weight—and will include the thematic areas Learning to Fly, Everyday Flight and Advanced Aviation. The 747 installation is planned to include the upper and main decks, the cockpit and a theatre simulating a flight from Los Angeles to Seoul. Other announced features include wind-tunnel experiments focused on flight forces and a Design a Plane exhibit about engineering aircraft for different missions.
Four aircraft have already been installed and suspended from the gallery ceiling: a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger, a Convair F-106A Delta Dart, a Pitts Special S-1C and a Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.4. The Science Center said the gallery’s eventual collection will include approximately 20 aircraft, while the wider Air and Space Center will present a collection of 100 objects alongside its new exhibits. That combination gives the Korean Air partnership a defined educational role within a broader institutional expansion.
The installation was commemorated by Jeffrey N. Rudolph, the Science Center’s president and chief executive, and Walter Cho, chairman and chief executive of Korean Air and Hanjin Group. The project has been backed by the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation, the State of California, Korean Air and the Kresa Family Foundation, with the foundation reporting more than $393 million raised towards the $450 million EndeavourLA Campaign goal. The new centre is intended to remain general-admission-free, although its public opening date is still unconfirmed.
