When we were in Hutchinson, Kansas last year, we had the opportunity to visit Cosmosphere but it didn’t get its own dedicated post at the time.
When we spent 3 weeks in Kansas recently I made my way back so I could host a virtual field trip for my Outschool students. It’s a great space museum and I highly recommend a visit to see more than you might at other space-related locations like Huntsville, Houston, Cape Canaveral and Washington DC.
That’s because it covers the invention of rocket technology from Germany and more details about the space race between the US and the USSR.
They did a great job preparing for social-distancing during the current COVID-19 crisis. When I visited there were maybe 20 people in the whole museum since I went first thing in the morning, like I did at the Sedgwick County Zoo, and it worked out really well.
You start with information about Nazi Germany and their development of rocket technology since there was a loophole in the treaty after WWI. This led to the development of that rocket technology into the space technology that we know now.
Once the German scientists joined the US after the fall of Germany following World War II, the work began on transferring the existing technology to be safer for man to get into space.
The Redstone Rocket (you may recognize it from Hidden Figures) that you can see below is on display at Cosmosphere. This leads you to information on the Cold War.
The US experienced three embarrassments on its way to space.
The first was the USSR putting the first artificial satellite into space.
The second is that the USSR put a living being into space before the US. #RIPLaika
The third embarrassment was the inability of the Vanguard rocket to launch.
You can go outside and see a small model replica of the launch area at Cape Canaveral with the Titan II rocket on display.
Then the USSR was the first to put a man into space. It’s thought that the USSR wasn’t even sure they could bring Yuri Gregorian back safely, but they were so desperate to get a person into space first they took the risk and it paid off.
The US space program began to accelerate after that and took off – literally.
One of the cool displays is the actual Odyssey that brought back the astronauts from the Apollo 13 mission.
As you continue through the history of the space program you end up at the shuttle program and you get to see even more about the life of an astronaut in space.
There are varying prices depending on how much of the museum you want to experience. Since we did the full experience last time, I just opted to go through the museum this time which cost $12.00 + tax.
The whole museum and its exhibits is well worth the $22.50 ticket price, so the price to get so much information for my class was incredible. I took over 400 pictures in the 3 hours I was there and that still only scratches the surface. Leave a day or more to see Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas – you won’t be disappointed.
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