Ever wonder what it’s like to go from high school senior to Air Force officer, flying high and jumping from planes above Colorado Springs along the way? You’re about to get an immersive view into the four-year journey of those cadets when the U.S. Air Force Academy Hosmer Visitor Center opens on May 16. And the tour through the state-of-the-art facility offers inspiring and emotive insights into life at the service academy.
“The Hosmer Visitor Center is not only a visitor center for our Air Force Academy, it’s also a gateway visitor center for the city of Colorado Springs,” says Michael Peterson, chief of the Outreach Division in the Strategic Communications Directorate at the academy. “As you walk through the visitor center, you’re going to see the entire 47-month journey of a cadet here at the Air Force Academy.”
With the new visitor center located outside academy gates, it is much more accessible to the public, especially in light of tighter security protocols and closures in recent years. That is helpful as the academy uses it as a recruiting tool for future cadets. But the new facility also offers insights for Colorado Springs visitors and locals.
“You might think you know everything about the Air Force Academy because you drive by it every day and you see our Wings of Blue jumping out of airplanes from I-25,” says Colonel Candice Pipes, director of admissions at the Air Force Academy. “But coming in here to see truly what cadets experience — seeing the videos of them experiencing it, seeing the exhibits of the cadet uniforms and really getting a sense of what they do for 47 months, starting with cadet training all the way to graduation — I think it’s a different perspective that even folks who live right outside the gate will really enjoy.”
Step Inside the Hosmer Visitor Center
The new visitor center is named for retired Lt. Gen. Bradley C. Hosmer and wife, Zita. As number one in the Order of Merit in 1959, he was the first graduate ever from the Air Force Academy, as well as the first graduate to receive a Rhodes scholarship and later to return as the Academy superintendent.
The self-guided tour path through the visitor center allows guests to trace the steps of all Air Force cadets. It is divided into seven distinct galleries, each offering a specific chapter of the cadet experience. And it provides a highly visual and auditory experience, leaning heavily on high-tech video and soundscapes to tell its stories.
In conjunction with the academy, the design firm Gallagher & Associates created the exhibits and tour experience. “They do amazing work all over the country,” says Lisa Neener, chief of visitor experience and STEM outreach at the Air Force Academy. “Actually they did it downtown in the Olympic Museum, and they’ve done the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C.”
Here’s an overview of the galleries.
Gallery 1
The tour begins with an introduction of the Academy’s four founding pioneers, history and an interactive touchscreen displaying class crests.
Gallery 2
Here is where the cadet journey begins, and visitors can stand in their footsteps literally and experience their initial moments at the academy. Just like incoming cadets, visitors can place their feet on precisely positioned footprints and stare into a full-wall mirror as they listen to cadets recite the oath of office, honor code and Air Force core values. “They can reflect a little bit and stare at their image and think about what they’re about to do as they join the military and take that big step,” Peterson says.
Gallery 3
Next comes a showcase of cadet daily life. Here are the building’s only physical artifacts, such as various uniforms. But large video walls depict the powerful transformation of high school graduates saying goodbye to their parents and immediately entering military training. Here you will also visually follow cadets from the moment they wake up until they go to bed at night.
“One thing that our graduates really wanted to see was a cadet room,” Peterson says. So there are 3D models and a video showing inspection.”
Gallery 4
The large gallery focuses on academics, athletics, military leadership and the Future Fight, showing cadets operating across various domains, including air, space and cyber. Various videos projected onto replicated airplane airfoils take viewers into Air Force life.
Gallery 5
The 108-foot tall glass atrium on the visitor center’s south side is the pinnacle of its unique architecture. It’s a gorgeous space offering scenic views across to the main academy.
This is where its external frame looks like its airplane shape takes flight. And on the inside is an inverted TG-10 glider suspended from the ceiling above 40-to-50-foot glowing tetrahedrons inspired by the Cadet Chapel spires.
“Each tetrahedron has a theme,” Peterson says. “One is ceremonial events. One is celebration events, and one covers unity events at the academy. As you walk underneath them, you can read about those events, and you can listen to those events as they’re taking place at the academy.”
Gallery 6
A circular staircase in the atrium leads up to a mezzanine that is still in development. For now it offers excellent views looking down on the tetrahedrons and out through the glass wall. Plans for future immersive experiences include a central enclosed theater and smaller 360-degree theaters simulating parachute jumps, glider flights and the Jacks Valley Assault Course.
Gallery 7
The final gallery highlights the diverse career paths available to graduates. It includes an interactive aptitude exhibit matching visitors with potential career fields, and a QR code links them directly to admissions.
Guests then exit through the gift shop filled with Air Force Academy merchandise and memorabilia.
“The visitor center is really accessible to every community,” Pipes says. “Even if you’re not able to get on base, you can stop here at the visitor center. It’s free. You’ll get to see all the immersive experiences.”
And it provides more students the opportunity to see and connect with the academy to explore their own futures there, she says.
“The other thing that the Hosmer Visitor Center does is speak to the Air and Space Force’s core values,” Pipes says. “It talks about the oath that all of our cadets raise their hand to swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. These are things that make the United States Air Force Academy different than other colleges. We’re not just a college; we’re a military service academy. And I think the Hosmer Visitor Center does a great job of demonstrating that. It’s like a 24/7 tour guide.”
Before You Go
The Air Force Academy’s new visitor center opens to the public May 16. Daily hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Find more details at usafa.edu.
Doolies at Hotel Polaris is now open for the season just over the pedestrian bridge for Air Force Academy-themed soda shop bites and beverages. Find more details at thehotelpolaris.com.
