University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 6, 1990
Science
11
Hutchinson Cosmosphere shows the history of space exploration
On this typical Saturday afternoon, the lobby is full of people waiting in line to buy tickets, busloads of children dash across the hallway, excitedly pointing and whispering about the giant, silver and gold lunar module that rests in the center of the building. The spacecraft stretches from the ground floor to the top of the second-floor balcony, looming over a small figure in a space suit.
Downstairs, a maze of exhibits displays everything from photographs of Robert Goddard and the first liquid-fueled rocket to the Apollo spacecraft that took men to the moon. Space suits and lunar artifacts in glass cases line the "Hall of Space," opening the public's minds to the mysteries of the solar system.
Kansas is probably not the first place that comes to mind when people in the United States think of space museums. However, just three 1/2 hours southwest of Lawrence, they can find one of the largest and most complete collections of space artifacts in the nation
Yes. it's in Kansas
The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson houses one of the top space museums in the United States. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Kansas. More than 351,000 people from around the world visited the Cosmosphere last year, said Mike Stephenson, assistant director.
The Hall of Space has more than $100 million worth of space artifacts on public display, Stephenson said. No other museum in the country has as many. The Cosmosphere's present collection is rivaled only by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and by NASA.
Visitors can see many unique artifacts in the Hall of Space. A complete Mercury space capsule, the spacecraft used by the first U.S. astronauts, is accompanied by Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, lunar artifacts, sample space food and even a display about bathrooms in space.
Other attractions at the Cosmosphere include the Omimax theater and the planetarium shows. The Omimax is the largest and most sophisticated projection system in the world, Stephenson said. A larger film size gives Omimax films a much clearer and sharper picture. The Cosmosphere changes featured films about every six months.
The museum also has the world's largest and most comprehensive space suit collection, Stephenson said.
There is no admission charge for the museum, but tickets for the
Ominaxm theater cost $4.50 for adults, $3.25 for children under 12 and $3.25 for senior citizens. Planetarium shows cost $2.50.
Space camps
The Cosmosphere also features a variety of educational programs. Children in grades seven through nine can attend the Future Astronaut Training Program, or space camp, said Jeff Thuxhorn, staff member in charge of the theater operations. The five-day program includes workshops, lectures, planetarium visits, rocket launches and participation in simulated space flight exercises.
"If nothing else," Thuxhorn said, "the camp teaches students to work as a team to accomplish a common goal."
There are two levels of training, Thxhorn said. Level one is open only to seventh, eighth and ninth graders. There is no age restriction for level one. The other two have completed level one. Level one tuition is $450; level two is $25.
Students who attend a level two session of the camp are at the Cosmosphere for only one day. The rest of the time is spent at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex.
Approximately 30 students attend each of the 10 sessions offered for level one, and about 40 attend the four or five sessions of level two, Thuxhorn said. Typically, students return the following summer to complete their next level of training.
Interest in the youth space camp aroused interest in creating an adult program. The first Adult Space Training Adventure, also known as ASTRA, was March 10. The one-day camp drew 28 adults ranging in age from the late 20s to the 70s.
The next ASTRA will probably be in fall 1909. Thxhorn said.
The next ASTRA will probably be held in the fall of 1990, Thuxhorn said.
Plans for the future
Items such as the German V-1 and V-2 rockets are impossible to display now because of lack of space. The V-2, built during World War II, was the first ballistic missile. It has served as a model for the U.S. rocket program since then.
The Cosmosphere will be moving to a new building, north of the Hutchinson Mall by 1992. Stephenson said. The current building, located on the community college campus, is too small to hold the Cosmosphere's entire collection.
The new building will be three times larger than the present one, and will house all of the Cosmsphere's artifacts.
A full-size re-creation of a lunar landing dominates the main hall of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
Story by Jill Osterhout Photographs by Patrick G. Brungardt
The Space Shuttle Discovery model is one of the displays on space history at the Cosmosphere.
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