Museum of Space Travel
The Guide to Great Space Exhibits and Museums
Museum of Flight
Nov 17th
This Seattle museum features an exhibit called “Space: Exploring the New Frontier”. With video, artifacts and interactive experiences, the exhibit is more than worth checking out. Artifacts includes: an actual mars Viking Lander, a flown Russian spacecraft, and moon rocks brought back to earth by Apollo 12. A great overview of the whole history of space travel, from Goddard to the current era…and looking beyond.
The museum is located at 9404 East Marginal Way, South Seattle, WA 98108-4097. The phone number is 206-764-5720.
Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington
Museum of Science and Industry
Nov 21st
Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry—while not strictly a space museum—has an impressive collection on, more or less, permanent exhibit. And they’ve got the Apollo 8 command module on display. As space buff’s know, Apollo 8 was the most dramatic leap in an otherwise step-by-step NASA program to reach the moon. No person had been more than 1,000 miles for Earth when, in December 1968, Apollo 8 and its crew of three went into lunar orbit—240,000 miles from home.
See Apollo 8 here. But don’t stop with that. Also see Scott Carpenter’s Aurora 7 Mercury spacecraft. Also: a lunar sample from Apollo 17; Frank Borman’s Apollo 8 spacesuit and gloves; and some great satellites hanging from the ceiling.
Location: 57th Street and
National Air & Space Museum
Nov 21st
In Washington D.C. (and with free admission!) this is the ultimate place to see historic artifacts. The museum gets “first refusal” on everything that NASA discards. But, in addition to such items as Freedom 7, the Apollo 11 command module and a Viking lander, the museum also has Soviet artifacts on display, including Alexi Leonov’s training space suit for the first space walk. You must go to this museum—more than once! A recent acquisition: SpaceShipOne!
And, while you’re at the museum, you should take the free shuttle (an earth-bound bus…) to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center , out by the Dulles Airport. Among the extraordinary collection: NASA’s first space shuttle, the Enterprise.
National Air Force Museum
Nov 21st
Located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio (1100 Spaatz Street), this venue has an impressive collection of space items. Space exhibits include a Mercury spacecraft (genuine but unflown), a Gemini capsule (used for testing, but unflown) and the VERY flown Apollo 15 command module, Endeavour. An unusual device on exhibit, the Marquardt Space Sled, was created to help an astronaut to maneuver during an EVA. It lost out to the MMU—and a developmental mockup of that unit is also on display.
The museum (including parking) is free; there is a charge for attending the on-site IMAX Theater.
National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio
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