Seattle, Washington (KOMO) It's a bird, it's a plane it's a guppy! Thousands of space buffs and aviation fans crowded Boeing Field to see a piece of history fly. And the way it arrived in Seattle was a dramatic show as well.

A flyover for a Super Guppy is a once in a lifetime site for most aviation buffs.

But this NASA plane is a carrying a bit of history to a new home in Seattle.

The guppy brought the first piece of the Space Shuttle Trainer to the Museum of Flight.

Originally the museum wanted a retired space shuttle.

"We think we got something better. We got something you can get inside of, you go up and touch, you can sit int he cockpit. We can do an educational program with kid and they can see what it's to be an astronaut," says Doug King, President of the Museum of Flight.

After a dramatic landing the Super Guppy pulled up to the museum where thousands waited for their first glimpse of the space race artifact.

The full fuelsolodge trainer is the exact replica of the inside of a space shuttle and what every space shuttle astronaut trained on before going into space.

At a ceremony before opening up the odd looking cargo plane local astronaut and west seattle graduate gregory johnson shared some memories of his training in the unit.

For example, a crash landing on the runway, and you would have to get yourself out in your spacesuit, out the top.

Space programs fans said today's arrival more than lived up to the hype.

"It exceded it. It's on the top four things i've done in my life. I think this is better than having a full shuttle," says Andrew Turpin.

It's a once in a lifetime thing to see. It's great for the community.
And seeing how it hitched a ride on the guppy was a treat itself.

"The fact that it came here to seattle is pretty cool," says Leeann Martinson.