Space Places: A Kids' Guide to Space Museums and Web Sites
Space Museums
U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
6225 Vectorspace Blvd.
Titusville, FL 32780
www.astronauts.org
Features: Exhibits on U.S. astronauts and the world's largest collection of the astronauts' personal memorabilia.
Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum
500 South Apollo Drive
Wapakoneta, Ohio 45895
www.ohiohistory.org/places/armstron/
Features: Neil Armstrong's Gemini 8 spacecraft, space suits, and historic aircraft as well as an exhibition of the model airplanes Armstrong collected as a boy.
Henry Crown Space Center
Chicago Museum of Science and Industry
57th St. and Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, Ill. 60637
www.msichicago.org
Features: There's a simulated space shuttle ride, the Aurora 7 Mercury spacecraft, an IMAX theater, and a full-scale model of a Gemini spacecraft for NASA's proposed space station.
Kansas Cosmosphere and Discovery Center
1100 N. Plum St.
Hutchinson, KS 67501
www.cosmo.org
Features: This center has many exhibitions, including more than 25 space suits, a lunar module, several spacecraft, a moon rock, and a planetarium and theater.
National Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution
Independence Ave. between 4th and 7th Sts., SW
Washington, D.C. 20560
www.nasm.si.edu
Features: This is the largest collection of space memorabilia. It contains the Apollo 11 command module, John Glenn's Mercury capsule, Friendship 7, the first piloted American spacecraft to orbit Earth, and the Gemini 4 capsule from which Ed White became the first American to walk in space.
U.S. Space and Rocket Center
One Tranquility Base,
Huntsville, AL, 35805
www.spacecamp.com/museum/
Features: A hands-on space museum that features space-travel simulators, a rocket park, a planetarium, and an IMAX theater. Kids can register for the five-day space camp; older kids can attend the U.S. Space Academy, which offers astronaut training activities.
Websites
Sky and Telescope
www.skypub.com
A Website based on the magazine Sky and Telescope, with current space news and information, an almanac of sky gazing, and tips for amateur astronomers.
The Astronaut Connection
nauts.com
An on-line guide to space, the history of its exploration, and the astronauts.
Welcome to the Planets
pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets
Spectacular photos and easy-to-follow information on the planets and the spacecraft that have explored them
Starchild
starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild
A NASA sight offering two levels of information—one for younger kids, and another for older kids (but under 14)—about the solar system, universe, and astronauts.
