MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Six months after it closed to visitors during the coronavirus pandemic, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space museum began welcoming back visitors Friday.
The 350,0000-square-foot museum, housed mostly on the U.S.S. Intrepid aircraft carrier docked at Pier 86 in Hell’s Kitchen, has reopened most of its exhibitions, including the space shuttle Enterprise and the aircraft collection on the hangar and flight decks.
There are new features as well: during the closure, the museum restored an escalator on board the Intrepid, first installed by the Navy in the 1950s to help pilots move from their rooms up to the flight deck. The system is no longer operational, but visitors will be able to walk up the escalator from the hangar to the flight deck, the museum says.
The museum also partnered with the NYU Ability Project to create an interactive visitor guide where visitors can learn about exhibitions on their phones and avoid crowding around exhibit labels.
The reopened Intrepid has new COVID-19 safety protocols in place, including timed ticketing, regular sanitizing and protective barriers, the closure of certain areas, and a 25-percent capacity maximum.
“As we move forward, the health and safety of our employees, volunteers, former crew members and visitors is our number one priority,” museum President Susan Marenoff-Zausner said in a news release. “The Museum has put into action a myriad of enhanced measures that go above and beyond the minimum requirements and we will continue to provide the same one-of-a kind experience the Intrepid Museum is renowned for.”
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is open Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets can be purchased at Intrepidmuseum.org.
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This article originally appeared on the Midtown-Hell’s Kitchen Patch