During the October 2003 Frank H. Rogers Science and Technology Building grand opening, the Atomic Testing Museum's temporary exhibit hall will feature the U-2 collections of Gary Francis Powers, Jr. and a local history connection to the U-2.

The display will include a mobile exhibit of historical artifacts associated with the May 1, 1960 incident in which a U-2 plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Russia by a SAM-2 missile. A local-connection exhibit, entitled "Silent Heroes of the Cold War," will share the hall with the Powers artifacts. The local collection features a propeller from a C-54 transport plane that crashed on Mt. Charleston in 1955 en-route to a Nevada facility where the U-2 was tested.

A model of a CORONA spy satellite, on loan from the Smithsonian Institution, will round out the exhibit. The satellite was the first operational space reconnaissance project and was recently highlighted in "Spies that Fly," a NOVA program that aired on January 7.

Remaining gallery space will highlight the work of Desert Research Institute scholars.