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Jake Garn looked at the airplanes occupying The Leonardo — a massive military transport, a Soviet-era fighter jet and a pedal-powered biplane — and smiled like a kid.

"Any airplane is my favorite. It doesn't matter what it is — if it flies, I'm for it," the retired U.S. senator and onetime astronaut said Thursday, as The Leonardo previewed a massive new exhibit, "Flight."

Garn wasn't the only kid enjoying the exhibit. Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski brought her family along.

"My kid is so excited," Biskupski said. "He is still in the exhibit with Nana, goofing around back there. There is no doubt that not only are the kids inspired by this exhibit, but it will touch the hearts and lives of every individual who walks through it, regardless of their age."

"Flight," which opens to the public Saturday, is a landmark for The Leonardo, Salt Lake City's art-and-technology museum. It's the first large-scale exhibit created in-house, after years of hosting shows such as "Body Worlds," "Mummies of the World" and "The Dead Sea Scrolls."

The exhibit "gives us the opportunity not only to tell the story of flight — the history of flight but also the future of flight — but it also gives us an opportunity to tie us back to our namesake, Leonardo da Vinci, who … had a lifelong fascination, really a passion, for flight," said Alexandra Hesse, The Leonardo's executive director.

The centerpiece of the exhibit are two airplanes: A C-131 Samaritan, a U.S. military transport made in 1954, and a Soviet-made MiG-21 that flew in the Polish Air Force. The MiG is suspended high from the Leonardo's ceiling, while the C-131's wings span the width of the building, with about six inches of space between wingtip and wall on both sides.

The C-131 is so large that the plane's tail was removed from the rest of the plane, and is the first thing museumgoers see as they enter the exhibit.

"We started with a really ambitious idea, and getting from the idea to realizing the idea — with these planes and getting them into the building — has been a whole host of problems that needed solutions," said Marissa de Simone, The Leonardo's exhibits director, who has led the museum's staff around the clock applying the final touches before this weekend's opening.

"Luckily, we had the right team and we figured it out," de Simone said.

The entrance of the exhibit is a "Tunnel of Dreams," an illuminated arch with some 200 hand-drawn blueprint-like images depicting human concepts of flight, from creatures of ancient mythologies to the space age.

At the end of that tunnel is a re-creation of an American living room, circa 1969, with a TV tuned to the Apollo 11 moon landing. The details are spot-on for the period.

In the main room, the C-131 looms large. Staircases lead museumgoers up to the fuselage, where they can see the cockpit's many dials, switches and gauges, with their scratched-up paint intact. Children can exit through a slide tube in the rear of the plane.

Three displays teach about the three forms of aviation: Ballistic (rockets and missiles), aerodynamic (winged aircraft) and buoyant (balloons, blimps and dirigibles). Nearby is a flight simulator and other interactive exhibits, as well as a mini-theater with airliner seats donated by SkyWest Airlines.

A kid's area allows youngsters to consider animal flight, with videos of flying creatures and plastic-encased specimens of butterflies and grasshoppers. —

'Flight' at The Leonardo

"Flight," an exhibit covering the history, science and technology of humanity's pursuit of flying.

Where • The Leonardo, 209 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City.

When • Opens Saturday, running for the foreseeable future.

Hours • 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; open until 10 p.m. Fridays.

Admission • $12.95 for adults (13 to 64); $8.95 for children (ages 3 to 12); free for children 2 and under; $9.95 for seniors (65 and up), students (with ID) and military (with ID).