Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

The USS Intrepid is an impressive aircraft carrier, which moored in Pier 86 on the Hudson River in New York, is now the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar interactive military museum. Visitors to the museum are immersed in the Intrepid's wartime history through videos, historical artifacts, and preserved living quarters. The highlight is the flight deck, which showcases a squadron of fighter planes and helicopters and offers visitors the chance to experience high-tech flight simulators. The museum is also home to the guided missile submarine Growler and the Space Shuttle Pavilion, showcasing the NASA space shuttle Enterprise from the 1970s. There are also hands-on exhibits such as G Force Encounter, which allows visitors to virtually fly a supersonic jet plane. The museum is a popular attraction for families with young kids, offering weekend educational activity sessions and other activities. The USS Intrepid is the fourth ship to bear the name in US Navy history, having been commissioned in 1943 to serve in the Pacific during World War II. It was heavily attacked by kamikaze planes, but survived. After the war, it was primarily engaged in low-key Cold War operations, aside from a brief stint as the support vessel for the 1962 Mercury-Atlas 7 space mission. The Intrepid was eventually decommissioned in 1974 and narrowly escaped being scrapped before becoming a museum in 1982.