The Sky's the Limit at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center

It really doesn’t matter whether you are old enough to remember when John Glenn orbited the Earth or you only recall being impressed when SpaceX first launched. Anyone of any age can enjoy learning the history of space travel at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, while also discovering the thrill of how new frontiers are being explored in the 21st century.

In fact, those who will embark on future space travel might today be stepping through the doors at the space center in Alabama.

During the mid-20th century, Huntsville, located in north Alabama, became the focus of America’s space race. Today, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center there tells the story of the region’s contribution to space travel. Serving as the official visitor’s center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the Smithsonian-affiliated museum attracts visitors from around the world to discover the history of space exploration through exhibits and educational programs.

America’s first satellites

Before World War II, Huntsville was primarily an agricultural town, best known as the Watercress Capital of the World and as a major cotton production community. That changed when a team of rocket scientists, led by Dr. Wernher von Braun, relocated to Redstone Arsenal in 1950 to develop missiles for the Army.

When the space race began, the team turned its focus to building rockets that could put America’s first satellite into space, and to eventually launch astronauts to the moon. In the 1960s, von Braun petitioned the Alabama legislature to fund a new space museum to highlight the critical work being done at Huntsville, The U.S. Space & Rocket Center opened on March 17, 1970, as America’s first museum dedicated to space. 

“The primary role for opening at the time was to illustrate the work that had been done in Huntsville and Alabama to develop the technology that ultimately put human beings into space,” said Rocket Center Media Relations Director Pat Ammons.

The story of the Apollo program is on display at the museum’s Davidson Center for Space Exploration. Suspended in mid-air is a Saturn V main frame, similar to the rocket that launched Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins to the moon. “It is a stunning experience to walk in there and see the giant Saturn V over your head and imagine what it took to build it, get it into space, and bring those astronauts back home safely,” Ammons said.

Below the Saturn V are exhibits highlighting the space race from the 1950s through the early 1970s, ranging from a scale model of America’s first satellite, Explorer I; a giant instrument unit ring that served as the Saturn V engine’s brain; to the capsule flown on  Apollo 16 for one of the final 20th century moon missions. Space suits on display highlight the complexity of surviving a trip beyond Earth’s atmosphere. There is also a tribute to Miss Baker, a monkey who was one of the first two American-launched animals to travel into space. Miss Baker spent her final years entertaining guests at the center, and she is buried near the museum entrance.

Located outside is the Shuttle Park, featuring a T-38 Talon high-altitude supersonic jet trainer and a Gulfstream II shuttle training aircraft that was used to train astronauts how to fly the space shuttle and to land it safely. The Pathfinder shuttle exhibit is undergoing extensive restoration, but will return as the only fully stacked shuttle display in the world.

Dare to explore

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center keeps abreast of present-day space exploration. The “Dare to Explore: Frontiers of Space” exhibit highlights current and future happenings in space travel, which Ammons described as “a celebration of what is happening in space exploration now, and what is to come.”

On display are a 1/10 scale model of a Vulcan rocket from United Launch Alliance, an American spacecraft launch service provider used for national security missions; a test device called the Mannequin Skywalker that helped confirm that the new Shepard crew capsules from Blue Origin were safe for future space tourism; and a test vessel from Boeing’s Starliner that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station.

Rocket exhibits help visitors learn about space travel at the U.S. Space and & Rocket Center, but there is also a planetarium offering live shows and up-to-date information from current NASA missions like the James Webb Space Telescope.

Children can be exposed to STEM subjects with hands-on activities in the museum’s daily Spark! Lab programs, and can participate in a literature series that features science stories and activities. Older visitors can experience the multi-axis trainer to see what it is like tumbling in space during a virtual-reality recreation of the Apollo 11 moon mission. “We want to make sure we provide informative, fun experiences for everyone, regardless of age,” Ammons said.

Inspiring exploration

Perhaps most importantly, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center strives to inspire future generations to reach for the stars through camps at the facility offered throughout the year.

One six-day camp “examines real-world applications of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” making young students work as a team “to confront mission scenarios that require dynamic problem solving and critical thinking.”

More than a million students and educators have attended the camp and its affiliated programs, with many going on to successful careers in the engineering, science, and aerospace fields.

Museum Education Director Joseph Vick describes the hands-on camp as “the most immersive training experience available” to simulate life in space.

 The camp lets students learn how astronauts work, eat and sleep in space; offers lessons about space history; and features former astronauts sharing concrete ideas about how a young person can become a space scientist.

Other camps at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center focus on learning what it is like to become a military pilot; studying the technical side of space to learn engineering concepts to build and maintain robots; or a cyber camp that teaches problem solving in the rapidly growing field of cyber security. There are also three-day camp programs for families with children as young as seven.

Data kept on those attending these programs suggests that students who go through them are more likely to stay in school and to take challenging courses needed to build a career in STEM fields. Ammons said participants build confidence and a passion for science through the camps, sparking interest in a variety of space travel careers.

“We want to be able to give children the resources needed to persevere through these challenging subjects, to show them the tools for that, and to get them excited about the career opportunities they would have,” she said. “We want to show them, if they have a passion for space exploration, there are jobs that meet that passion.”

The future, today

There are exciting times ahead at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Ammons said. Approximately 700 people attended the museum’s community watch party in the middle of the night last December for NASA’s Artemis I launch. “In general, there is a great interest in space exploration, and we see that in the number of visitors that come through the door,” she said.

That curiosity serves the goal of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, which not only offers current and future generations the history of space flight, but is also “educating the future employees of NASA, and bringing into our doors the next person that will walk on the moon, or (the) next generation that is going to colonize Mars,” Vick said.

“This is an exciting time in space exploration, and we are thrilled to be part of telling that story,” Ammons said.