9 Sep 2023 - Cosmosphere

 

Today we visited the Cosmosphere, an internationally recognized space museum and science center located right here in Hutchinson KS.  It was started in 1962 by an independent woman who had the desire to share the wonders of astronomy and a community that rallied behind her cause.  In the early 70's they acquired excess and surplus equipment from NASA. In the late 1990s Russia was suffering from a financial crisis.  The Cosmosphere was able to leverage this and purchase many Russian assets including artifacts from its space exploration program.  In 1998 the Cosmosphere was named one of the first affiliates of the Smithsonian Institution.  Again, right here in Hutchinson KS!!  Doreen and I have traveled from coast to coast and visited many space-themed museums and displays, and this is right up at the top of our list.  If you ever get close to Hutchinson KS, you have to stop and see this amazing facility.  So let's get started.

Last night we bought our tickets online.  Our tickets allowed us access to everything:

• Hall of Space Museum - all of the main displays
• Carey Digital Dome Theater (an IMAX-type theater)
• The two movies that were showing included Blue Whales and Amazon Adventures
• Justice Planetarium
• Dr. Goddard's Lab
• Cosmokids Play Area
• Flight Simulator

They also have an on-site cafe that served food and a really nice gift shop.

The Blue Whales movie was at 1000 hrs so we had about 30 minutes before the movie started, so we started in the lobby and then looked at some of the museum displays.  

They have an actual SR-71 aircraft  on display, tail# 17961, retired on 2 Feb 1977

An SR-71 cockpit

SR-71-related items including the specialized flight suit, aluminized tire and other items

Liberty Bell 7, swamped with ocean water, nearly drown Gus Grissom on 21 Jul 1961.  

Restored by the Cosmosphere staff here!!

Inside Liberty Bell 7

This is a replica Space Shuttle , but the tiles and the nose wheel are real!

A T-38 aircraft also in the lobby!

So you can see, we have not even entered the actual museum yet and the displays are beyond amazing!  This is truly a Smithsonian-level museum.   A little time was left before the movie started so we cruised the very well-stocked gift shop.  

We attended the "Blue Whales:  Return of the Giants" movie in the Carey Digital Dome Theater, which is a two-story Dome with a 4K digital projection system.  The movie takes us from Baja California to the Pacific to explore the world of the magnificent blue whale.  Years ago unrestricted 'whaling' nearly drove these animals to extinction, but they are now on the rebound.  Blue whales are the largest animals ever to have lived, bigger than any dinosaur, yet we know surprisingly little about them.  The movie was very informative and the theater was great.

After the movie we further explored the museum.  It is laid out chronologically, starting in World War II when Germany developed the first rockets, the V-1 Buzz Bomb.  Some significant artifacts here included the V-1, the ME-163 Comet Rocket Engine, and the V-2 Rocket.  

An actual German V-1 Buzz Bomb

The V-2 Rocket.  The "V" stood for Vengeance!

Restoration of the V-2

Next was the Bell X-1 Rocket Plane used in the movie "The Right Stuff".  

The museum then displayed the beginnings of the Cold War combined with the Space Race - Russia vs the United States.  

I remember when SputnikI, the first satellite launched by the Russians, went into orbit

Russia also launched a space capsule with a dog inside

A piece of the Berlin Wall

A console from Houston Space Center

Lunar Module

Lunar Excursion Module

The Russian Soyuz-Apollo docking

Mars Rover Curiosity

After lunch we returned to attend the Planetarium presentation.  There were no pictures allowed inside and it was a huge, dark, dome-shaped room with two digital projectors displaying the stars, planets and constellations, facilitated by a human.  I also have an app on my iPhone that uses the camera and allows you to locate all of those items in the sky.  

After the Planetarium we finished in the museum and then both sat in the flight simulator.  It was a full motion simulator, but even Doreen said it was pretty tame.  The video featured the Blue Angels and their maneuvers.  

Again, we were totally impressed with this museum and so glad we visited it.

After returning to the campground we were able to tune into the Iowa-Iowa State football game and relaxed a bit.  

Later we grilled some chicken wings, sweet corn and potatoes and enjoyed a beautiful evening at the campground.  

Tomorrow afternoon we have tickets to explore the STRATACA Salt Mine!