Strategic Air Command was formed on March 21, 1946, and in November 1948 its headquarters moved from Andrews Air Force Base to Offutt, south of Omaha, where it stayed until the command was disestablished in 1992. Curtis LeMay took over that October. From Offutt the command ran the bombers, tankers and missiles of the nation's nuclear force. In 1957 it opened an underground command post at Offutt, and from February 3, 1961, until July 24, 1990, an EC-135 called Looking Glass kept a general and a battle staff in the air around the clock in case the bunker was destroyed. U.S. Strategic Command took over the headquarters when SAC ended.
The museum began in 1959 on the base, with the aircraft parked outdoors. On May 16, 1998, the collection moved indoors to this site in the Platte valley, two buildings with about 300,000 square feet between them. About forty aircraft are here, among them a Convair B-36J Peacemaker, a Boeing RB-52B Stratofortress and a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird, whose nose greets visitors in the atrium, along with missiles and space vehicles.
The museum has changed its name more than once. In 2001 it became the Strategic Air & Space Museum, a name veterans disliked, and in 2015 it took back the command's name. A planetarium runs shows for an extra fee.
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