Exhibits
Discover our newest
permanent exhibit wing!
In this 15,000 square foot addition to Adventure Science Center, you can discover the wonders of the universe through a variety of hands-on, interactive exhibits. Two galleries will open on June 28 with more to come in 2009.
TEST BED
On the first floor of the Space Chase exhibit hall, visitors can experiment with space exploration tools in this spectacular two-story high astronaut training and technology center. Through hands-on, interactive exhibits, you learn what it takes for a rocket to launch, what happens during “free fall,” and how Newton’s Laws mean a lot in space. Highlights include:
Moonwalker
Get the feeling of walking on the moon and see just how high you can jump and how lightly you come back down when only in 1/6 gravity!EVA Experience
Discover the challenges facing astronauts during their extravehicular activities (“spacewalks”). While in simulated weightlessness, attempt a series of activities to see how the astronauts work in zero gravity.Trajectory Trails
Learn the roles of gravity, angle and force in determining the trajectories of rockets, which are essential to achieving orbit and reaching further destinations in space. Challenge your skills as you attempt to hit lighted targets by firing a special launcher.
Solar System Survey
Take a walk through our solar system and discover the relationships between the planets and their moons, how much you weigh on Jupiter or Saturn, and why we have seasons. Visitors will have the solar system at their fingertips through interactive stations. Highlights include:
Worlds of Wonder
This five-foot digital sphere uses internal digital projection to tell the story of the solar system not just in ways we can see but also with topographic maps, atmospheric data, geological features, and more.Tilt a World
Using a specially designed navigation table, visitors can tilt and twist the surface to explore the Earth. A robust database of satellite imagery allows the visitor to zoom in to find their favorite location or zoom out to get the big picture.Planet Globes
Examine to-scale models of the planets of our Solar System and explore the wonders of each planet at its interactive digital panel.
Coming in 2009
The second floor of Space Chase will be ready for exploration in 2009. Look for these action-packed exhibits opening next year.
Infinity Star Chamber
This awe-inspiring exhibit will convey the vastness of the universe with mirrored surfaces, LED lights, and diminished light and sound, to make visitor feel as if they are “stepping” into space amid thousands of stars in a vast galaxy.The Observatory
In this simulated astronomy lab, visitors will learn how astronomers use different wavelengths of light to detect and study distant stars.Cosmic Ray’s
Step into this retro-future style gathering place to catch live demonstrations, lectures and performances and live space-news feeds. Slide into a café booth to explore the interactive database or play multi-player games.
Special Thanks
Gathering the text and images for Space Chase would have been impossible without the assistance of dozens of people from across the country.
Astronomers Dr. David Weintraub of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Spencer Buckner of Austin-Peay State University, and Dr. Todd Gary of Tennessee State University reviewed countless pages of text and graphics captions for accuracy and readability.
The professionals at many NASA centers went above and beyond the call of duty:
John Dumoulin and Mitzi Adams of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center,
Anita Sohus and the staff of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Jody Russell and the staff of the NASA Johnson Space Center Media Resource Center
William Brassard, photographer at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA Johnson Space Center,
John Stoke and the staff of the Space Telescope Science Institute, and
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.Coming soon to Wonders of the Universe will be the first of its kind, a fantastic mural of a portion of the Milky Way galaxy in ultra-high-resolution from the 2MASS project prepared by the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at CalTech and JPL with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and funded by NSF.
