The Reluctant Blogger: History in 90 Seconds

One of the most awesome displays in the Cosmosphere collection is the SR-71 Blackbird that graces our front lobby. Mysterious to this day, the Blackbird is a plane that looks very much like an alien spaceship. It is so beautifully integrated into the lobby that people often miss it completely as they pass underneath it. Coming in at #7 in our top ten countdown of most fascinating artifacts is the SR-71 Blackbird.

The Reluctant Blogger: History in 90 Seconds

The Hall of Space Museum tells how the rocket shaped the modern world. The "Space Race" is a huge component in that story. There is a stark contrast between the competing cultures both in their approach to solving problems and in the hardware of their spaceships. The differences are easy for visitors to see when they compare the vessels of the two programs side by side. The Soviets were secretive and simple, while the Americans were free wheeling, and complex. However, the two programs shared the common language and philosophy of mathematics. The small and humble twin artifacts that share the number eight spot in our countdown are an enduring symbol of the undeniable power of numbers.

The Reluctant Blogger

Among the many positions I have held at the Cosmosphere is the role of Planetarium Director. Back then, I went outside at night and scoped out the positions of the stars and planets, so I could point them out during planetarium shows. Now, that I am Director of Education, I have let this activity all but slip away. It is my loss. If you haven’t taken a look at the night sky lately or ever, go out tonight after sunset and look east. That brilliant red star that doesn’t twinkle is Mars. Then, turn around and look west. The two bright lights close together are Venus and Jupiter. Venus is the brighter of the two. If you look at these planets for a little while, you may be struck with a small sense of how many people have come before you and seen this same thing and felt as you may feel about the wonder of it all. It only takes a few moments to make that connection, but the feeling can last a lifetime.

The Reluctant Blogger: History in 90 Seconds

Many years ago, when I was the front desk evening week-end manager, I trained tour guides. They were inevitably high school students who were naturally apprehensive about giving a tour through a museum that primarily dealt with things they had not directly experienced. My advice to them was to go downstairs, identify their favorite artifact, then learn all they could about that piece. This exercise would eventually lead them to a deeper understanding of the whole story our museum tells. The cosmosphere's Russian collection is a big part of why the Hall of Space is so incredible. So, at number nine, is my personal favorite, the RD 107 rocket engines from the Soviet Union.

The Reluctant Blogger: History in 90 Seconds

The countdown of the "Top Ten Most Fascinating Artifacts in the Hall of Space Museum" begins with the Lunasphere from the Soviet Union.

When I decided to do a top ten list, I thought it might be a good idea to seek input from my fellow Cosmosphere employees. So, I sent out a little email to twenty people asking for their top ten. When I dissected the responses, I had 45 different artifacts on the various lists. It was obvious to me that this approach would not work. In the end, the list is mine and you are free to argue with it or agree wholeheartedly. I would prefer the latter of course.

Reluctantly yours.

Tom Holcomb

Director of Education

The Reluctant Blogger

Once in awhile a seemingly onerous task brings unexpected clarity. I constantly talk and write about our numerous summer camp programs. There are thirteen distinctly different camps residing under the banner of Kansas Adventures in Outer Space and I was assigned the task of explaining our educational philosophy in 150 words. Here they are.

The Cosmosphere’s mission is to preserve the past and inspire the future of space exploration. We approach teaching about space as fun with a purpose. We strive to make learning exciting and unavoidable. Our students tend to have a sharp eye to the future. Some have not enjoyed the usual avenues of acclaim and success found in conventional environments. We create obstacle filled, immersive, space based scenarios that encourage students to forge creative team based ways to overcome them. We believe in the power of cooperation and the motivational force of competition and creatively weave both into the fabric of our challenges. Our campers often encounter other serious minded people like themselves. More often than not, they flower. Our goal in all of our programs is for our students to discover the hidden pool of potential within themselves and for them to begin to wield that potential in positive ways.

Don't trouble yourself. It is exactly 150 words. I'm kind of funny that way. Sounds like a great place to send your kids this summer.

Reluctantly Yours,

Tom Holcomb

Director of Education (not reluctantly)

The Reluctant Blogger: History in 90 Seconds

Once upon a time the most put upon man in the world was forced to write a weekly blog.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is pull some old thing off the shelf or out of a drawer, dust it off and run it by again. Sometimes, it’s the worst thing you can do. Back in 2009 I did a series of short videos called “History in 90 Seconds”. They were somewhat less than a hit, but I thought they were good, so here they are again. Episode One dealt with why the Cosmosphere is in Hutchinson. Meredith is doing that right now in our 50^th anniversary year, so I will leave that to her. Please, judge me, but not too harshly.

Reluctantly Yours,

Tom Holcomb

The Cosmosphere at 50: In the Beginning

Why is there a space museum in Kansas? Why Hutchinson? These are two of the big questions we get asked here at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. People from all over the world come to visit our museum and are surprised to find such treasures in the Heartland of America. I don’t think I have ever been surprised myself about it, as growing up in Hutchinson it was ‘the norm.’ I will say I am impressed by the Cosmosphere. We have a supportive community of friends and museums who help us to maintain our stature as one of the premiere space museums in the world. Yet again you ask, why Hutchinson? It’s quite simple: someone had a dream.

Fifty years ago this year, Patricia “Patty” Brooks Carey started the Hutchinson Planetarium. The only planetarium in the state of Kansas at the time made its debut in the old chicken coop on the State Fairgrounds. Patty had a love for astronomy. This love of the stars is one of the reasons the Hutchinson Planetarium was created. In a single weekend, Patty gathered the finances from her community friends and neighbors to finance the purchase of a star ball. The first show, “Star of Bethlehem” opened December 2, 1962.

As the years went on, the Hutchinson Planetarium expanded and was relocated to the Cosmosphere’s current site at the Hutchinson Community College. In the 1980s, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Discovery Center maintained the Planetarium and other learning oddities, such as an Egyptian mummy and a real live snake! With Patty Carey leading the way and placing the right people in position, the Cosmosphere began to collect more and more space artifacts. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center now houses one of the most comprehensive space artifact collections in the world.

Recently, I had the pleasure to sit down with one of Patty’s family members and take a stroll down memory lane. We were looking at old photographs and albums of Patty, which encompassed a large amount of Cosmosphere history. Patty was a world traveler by the age of ten. Astronomy was not her only love; she had a passion for history, the world, and public service. I was amazed at everything Patty Carey did in her lifetime. Her title as “Executive Mom” for the Cosmosphere was one of her most cherished roles.

In this 50th anniversary year of the Cosmosphere’s beginning, I hope to share with you all not only the Cosmosphere’s story, but Patty Carey’s story. Even more, though, I hope you all share back with us your stories and remembrances of Patty Carey and experiences at the Cosmosphere over the years.

Stay tuned! In the weeks to come, you’ll learn just how an Egyptian mummy became part of our past!

By Meredith Miller, Collections Manager

The Reluctant Blogger

Once upon a time the most put upon man in the world was forced to write a weekly blog. He pointed out that he was an expert at nothing, that in fact; he despised experts in general and therefore was not at all qualified to write about anything. His arguments fell on deaf ears. So, it came to pass that I, the he referred to above, became The Reluctant Blogger.

Experts in my opinion, come in five distinct types.

The Real Expert

This expert knows their subject, their limitations and their place. They are as rare as hummingbirds in Antarctica.

The Blowhard

This expert knows a lot about one or several topics. More often then not they come to believe themselves experts on all topics, resulting in a stoppage of both listening and learning.

The Bore

This expert knows everything about a specific narrow topic, speaking only of their beloved.

The Phony

This expert is an expert in name only. They know almost nothing about their topic, but sputter and bluster as if they do.

The Reluctant

This is me. I work in a space museum. I can think of few fields of expertise filled with greater uncertainty than space and history, and I am immersed in both. My museum is called The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. It is in Hutchinson, KS, and is, in my opinion, the greatest space museum on earth, and one of the world’s great museums, period. Bold statements, but I intend to prove them true.

The good news is that this is my dilemma and not yours. I will share with you the wonders of the Cosmosphere’s Hall of Space Museum and encourage you to decide if my boasts are true.

Reluctantly Yours,

Tom Holcomb
Director of Education

NASA’s Driven to Explore

NASA's Driven to Explore will visit the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center in Hutchinson, Kan., on Wednesday, September 15, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, September 16, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and September 17, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Come out with the whole family to enjoy this extraordinary exhibit!

NASA’s Driven to Explore (DTE) mobile, multi-media exhibit immerses visitors in the story of NASA. Guests will learn about the significance of human space exploration and how NASA provides critical technological advances to improve life on Earth. The walking tour includes imagery and audio and visual technology to connect visitors with the space program, highlighting advanced human research that will ensure safe and sustainable future missions, and next-generation vehicles and surface systems destined for use exploring beyond low earth orbit. The centerpiece of the DTE is a nearly 4-billion-year-old piece of moon rock brought to Earth by the astronauts of Apollo 17 in 1972, America's last human mission to the moon. The rock is one of only eight lunar samples made available for the public to touch. For more information about NASA exploration, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration.

This has been a hot and hopping summer, inside and out, at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center!

We are still coming back to earth from our
Free Family Fun Day celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Liberty Bell 7 and the historical last NASA shuttle landing of Atlantis on Thursday, July 21.

We got an extraordinarily early start and kicked the day off at 4 am with coffee and donuts to watch the landing of Atlantis at 4:56 am, exactly as NASA had projected! With 60 people in attendance we sat misty-eyed, yet joyful, as Atlantis took a farewell circle around Kennedy Space Center and landed safely for the last time. After the landing party the Hall of Space Museum remained open, admission free, until 9 am when we started Coffee at the Cosmo!

Chris Orwoll, President and CEO, gave an informative talk about the logistics of Liberty Bell 7’s flight, rescue efforts, and eventual retrieval from the bottom of the ocean floor. “Because of its importance to the space program’s history and our own, Liberty Bell 7 is a gem in our museum collection,” said Meredith Miller, Curatorial Collections Manager. A gem it is indeed, the Cosmosphere made the search and retrieval efforts their mission, and Liberty Bell 7 became the only flown American spacecraft not owned by NASA or the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). As part of Orwoll’s lecture he displayed artifacts from the Liberty Bell 7 that the public was invited to see up close.

The action packed day didn’t stop there! Morning and afternoon Liberty Bell 7 Restoration Q&A programs were conducted by Space Works, the group who restored the Liberty Bell 7 after its dramatic retrieval from the ocean floor! Dale Capps, Jack Graber, and Jim Franko, Space Works crew, as well as Meredith Miller and Amanda Bailey, Registrar, spoke in detail about their processes during the six months it took to clean the spacecraft after 38 years on the ocean floor.

As the film footage of the Liberty Bell 7’s rescue ran on the big screen, visitors enjoyed many different activities in the lobby. Children who visited that day were invited to craft their very own mission control patches while “The Right Stuff,” simulated astronaut physicals, was conducted in the KAOS camp area on the second floor.

It was an even more exciting day than usual at the Cosmosphere, one we will never forget!

How Slow can the SR-71 Fly?

Brian Shul, Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine, provides an answer.

As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute.
Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed.. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual "high" speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let's just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn't previously seen.

So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, "What was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?" This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and I relayed the following.

I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refuelling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.

Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field-yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn't see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren't really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane levelled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.

Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn't say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet's hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of "breathtaking" very well that morning and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.

As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn't spoken a word since "the pass." Finally, Walter looked at me and said, "One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?" Trying to find my voice, I stammered, "One hundred fifty-two." We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, "Don't ever do that to me again!" And I never did.

A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer's club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71
fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, "It was probably just a routine low approach; they're pretty impressive in that plane." Impressive indeed.

Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It's ironic that people are interested in how slow the world's fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it's always a good idea to keep that cross-check up. and keep your Mach up, too.

Second Saturday Free Tours

Saturday, May 14, the Cosmososphere is offering guided tours in the Hall of Space at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. These tours are free with your paid admission to the museum.

Going to the moon is considered one of man’s greatest achievements and it was a long process to get there. Even if you had time to read every panel in the Cosmosphere, there are still stories to be told. These tours will help you make the most of your visit on Saturday by giving you some extra insight.

This is the first of a series of “Second Saturday” tour days being offered each month. Bring the family and enjoy this added bonus.

Endeavour Watch Party Monday Morning

The Cosmosphere will be showing the last launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on Monday, May 16, beginning at 7:30 a.m. It will be shown on a large screen in the Discovery Room at the Cosmosphere. This event is free to the public.

The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. Commander Mark Kelly is the husband of wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is scheduled to be in attendance for the launch.

Endeavour was the last shuttle built, completed in 1990 at a cost of $1.8 billion. It has traveled 116,372,930 miles and spent 283 days in orbit. On its previous 24 flights it has completed 4,423 orbits with 166 crew members on board.

This is Endeavour's 25th mission. During the 14-day mission, Endeavour will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), the final major component to the space station. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that will use the station's external environment as a platform to expand knowledge of the universe and lead to better understanding of the universe's origin.

Please be aware that weather or other factors could affect the launch date and time.

The Cosmosphere plans to show the remaining shuttle launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, now scheduled for June 28.

Coffee at the Cosmo - May 19, 2011

Coffee at the Cosmo on Thursday, May 19, is entitled, "From the Sea to the Stars: 50 years of Naval Aviation in Spaceflight." It is at 9 a.m. at the Cosmosphere and is free and open to the public.

Seven of the 12 men who walked on the moon were Navy pilots, including Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, the first and last men on the moon. In fact, all but one of the Apollo commanders was a Navy pilot.

Cosmosphere President and CEO Chris Orwoll, a retired Navy Commander, will be doing the presentation.

Coffee at the Cosmo is an ongoing series of free presentations at the Cosmosphere. It's the third Thursday of every month at 9 a.m. and is always free. Enjoy coffee and pastries, meet new friends, and learn something new.

Interactive Gallery Opens Saturday at Cosmosphere

Saturday, April 9, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is opening a new permanent interactive gallery titled “Investigate Space: Our Universe." It will feature information about unmanned exploration of our Solar System and the Universe and have opportunities for visitors to engage interactively. For example, visitors will be able to drive a virtual Mars rover and fly through space to objects throughout the universe.

To celebrate the opening, Todd Barber of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, will offer two different presentations, both free to the public.

At 1 p.m. he will talk about his work on the Cassini-Saturn and Mars missions. At 3 p.m. he will talk about JPL's continued work in unmanned exploration of our Solar System and Universe.

In conjunction with his visit, a full-scale model of the newest Mars rover, Curiosity, is on display at the Cosmosphere through April 29. It is on loan from JPL and will travel to North Carolina and Washington D.C. after it leaves the Cosmosphere. Curiosity was named by a 12-year-old Lenexa student, Clara Ma.

In addition, a model of the Mars rover Sojourner will be part of the new gallery. Another interesting addition will be a 233-pound meteorite on loan from Steve Arnold, who found it on the television show, "Meteorite Men."

No admission ticket is required to see Curiosity or hear Todd Barber. The new gallery is included with your regular admission ticket.

Mars Rover Curiosity Model at Cosmosphere through April 29

A full scale model of the Mars Rover, Curiosity, is on display at the Cosmosphere through April 29. It is on loan from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL). Curiosity is scheduled for launch late this year. It will take nine months for it to reach Mars in August of 2012.

Curiosity is a mobile laboratory designed to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for life, and to examine clues in the rocks about possible past life. Curiosity will roam Mars for nearly two years, with a greater range than any previous Mars rover. During that time it will analyze dozens of samples drilled from rocks or scooped from the ground.

Curiosity was named by a sixth-grade Lenexa, Kan., student, Clara Ma. As her prize the 12-year-old won a trip to California where she was invited to sign her name directly onto the rover during its assembly at JPL. She won the honor of naming it by submitting the winning essay.

Much larger than the other three rovers, Curiosity is about nine feet long and weighs 2,000 pounds. Spirit and Opportunity landed in 2004. They were preceded by Sojourner, which landed in 1997.

Curiosity will use 10 science instruments to examine rocks, soil and atmosphere. A laser will vaporize rock from a distance, and another instrument will search for organic compounds. It has mast-mounted cameras to study from a distance, arm-mounted tools to study targets within reach, and deck-mounted instruments to analyze rock and soil samples.

The full-scale Curiosity model is on display in the Cosmosphere lobby. No admission ticket is required to see it.

TIV and Mike Smith at Cosmosphere

The TIV, short for Tornado Intercept Vehicle, will be at the Cosmosphere on Monday, April 11 from 10-7. The TIV is featured on the Discovery Channel show, “Storm Chasers,” and in “Tornado Alley,” now playing in the Cosmosphere’s Carey IMAX Dome Theatre.

“Tornado Alley” includes footage of the TIV inside a tornado. Driver Marcus Gutierrez and Meteorologist Brandon Ivey, both of whom are featured in the show and the movie, will be at the Cosmosphere on April 11. Their appearance is free to the public. Movie tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for children.

The TIV will be at the Cosmosphere all day. The TIV weighs 14,000 lbs and is 106 inches wide, 26 feet long, and 8 ft high without its mast.

A lucky Facebook Fan will win a ride in the TIV through the Cosmosphere’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/kscosmosphere. People can also sign up in the lobby of the Cosmosphere.

Schedule for the day - timing may vary slightly

10 a.m. - The TIV arrives

10:30 a.m. - Press Conference

11 a.m. - TIV ride for Cosmosphere Winners

TIV returns to Cosmosphere for viewing

2-4 - TIV Rides for drawing winners

4 p.m. - Meteorologist Mike Smith presents "Miracle at Greensburg" and signs his book

6 p.m. - Marcus and Brandon present about "Tornado Alley"

7 p.m. - Last showing of "Tornado Alley" for that day

Gutierrez served as U.S. Navy corpsman and is now a first-class medic trained in trauma, pediatric cardiothoracic surgery and orthopedics. He has provided emergency support for the TIV team, and is the official driver. Hopefully his medical skills will not be needed for the TIV team in the future.

Ivey has been interested in severe weather since age 16, after the April 26, 1991 tornado outbreak in Kansas and Oklahoma. He became heavily involved in the documentation of weather events about ten years later, after much research about storms. He earned his Broadcast Meteorology Certification in 2006 and a year later received a degree in Geosciences through Mississippi State University.

Smith is one of the world's leading experts in the application of weather science. Meteorologist, entrepreneur, and inventor, he created WeatherData Services, Inc., has been credited with saving countless lives and more than $100 million for his clients and the general public. Prior to founding WeatherData, Smith was a television meteorologist in St. Louis, Oklahoma City, and Wichita. He is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. His first book is, “Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather.”

Yuri Gagarin - First Man in Space 50 Year Anniversary - Coffee at the Cosmo April 21, 2011

Coffee at the Cosmo on Thursday, April 21, is entitled, “First in Space: Yuri Gagarin and 50 Years of Spaceflight.” It is at 9 a.m. at the Cosmosphere and is free and open to the public.

Russians were first into space on April 12, 1961, when Gagarin’s Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of Earth. As the first human in space, Gagarin became an international celebrity.

However, that was to be his only spaceflight. Seven years later, while on a routine training flight, he died in a crash. His body was cremated and the ashes buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.

The Kansas Cosmosphere has the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, including a flown Vostok. Gagarin’s flight spurred Kennedy’s famous speech a few weeks later when he declared the US would put a man on the moon, and return him safely, before the end of the decade.

Coffee at the Cosmo is an ongoing series of free presentations at the Cosmosphere. It’s the third Thursday of every month at 9 a.m. and is always free. Enjoy coffee and pastries, meet new friends, and learn something new.

Space 501- A Camp for Adults, too

The Cosmsophere is offering a new camp this year that’s open to adults, as well as those who have completed earlier levels of camps. “Space 501” is slated for June 26-July 2, and will tour multiple space facilities in California.

Space 501 will take you on an unforgettable journey to see the cutting edge of space exploration technology for the future while you soak up the history of what has come before. You’ll travel to California and tour Space X, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Edwards Air Force Base, Dryden Spaceflight Center, Columbia Memorial Space Center and the aircraft carrier USS Midway. 

Special accommodations are being made for our group at various places, including a behind-the-scenes tour at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Interplanetary Engineers at Dryden will take time for some special activities with our group, and at Columbia we’ll lunch with some retired engineers who helped create technology we still marvel at today. Be where the future is being created.

The tour was designed to give you a taste of the history of the space program, the technology putting us into orbit today, and the possibilities for tomorrow. 

Cost of this once-in-a-lifetime trip is only $1950 per person, based on double occupancy. That price includes your travel and food.