Many of you know that our Christmas holiday takes us the length of Kansas to southwest Nebraska. Kansas is unfairly maligned, for it boasts an outstanding 6-stool burger shack and (believe it or not) a world class space museum: The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. It's truly inspiring to go to a place devoted to a time when humans aspired to be more than simply ordinary.
You might remember that after visiting Kennedy Space Center in May, Jefferson asked to learn more about space over the summer. His summer lessons culminated with an August trip to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. The museum in Huntsville is largely devoted to the work of Wernher von Braun. For some reason, his slide rule is in Kansas.
Despite what you might think, "we're not in Kansas anymore" is not the most uttered phrase while touring the Cosmosphere. That honor belongs to: "Dude, how is this here?" A piece of the German wall.
The Cosmosphere does an excellent job placing American space exploration in the political and social context of the time. There are fantastic exhibits of German and Soviet space artifacts. Oh, and some old ejection seat from some plane.
Sometimes you fail. This is an unmanned Mercury test.
One of the most iconic pieces of space memorabilia: the silver Mercury 7 suit.
It was too dark in here to get a decent photo, but this is Liberty Bell 7: Gus Grissom's spacecraft for the second Mercury mission. It sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered in 1999.
Five or six feet away from the Mercury spacecraft is Gemini X, the eighth manned mission of the Gemini program. John Young and Michael Collins spent just under 3 days in orbit in this tiny thing.
Michael Collins' spacesuit.
The entire museum is astonishing, but it truly shines in its presentation of Apollo. This is the Apollo 13 command module. Yes ... THAT Apollo 13.
Here's what it looks like inside. Apparently, it is the same square footage as a minivan.
The last place Apollo astronauts would be before strapping themselves to a Saturn V is the White Room. The Cosmosphere has one of only two Apollo White Rooms and they let you get inside. Mom is taking the photo from the perspective of the command module.
The last face an Apollo astronaut would see was that of Guenter Wendt. The astronauts considered him a good luck figure. This is what you'd see as you were climbing into the command module.
The Apollo 11 crew gave Guenter gifts. Michael Collins gave him a fish trophy, Buzz Aldrin gave him a New Testament, and Neil Armstrong gave him a free ticket for a space taxi ride.
This is an actual console from mission control in Houston. Jefferson is pretending to figure this thing out.
This is a moon rock from the Apollo 11 mission.
Speaking of the moon, after retiring from NASA, Alan Bean (Apollo 12) became a full time artist. His medium: acrylic and moon dust from his tools and instruments.
Okay, let's get it out in the open ... six-year-old boys (okay, and sometimes their dads) are fascinated by things of the bathroom. There's no delicate way to say it: Apollo astronauts had to tape an adhesive bag to their butts to go ... #2.
This is the type of toilet used on the Space Shuttle. We might have spent as much time staring at this as we did the Apollo 13 CM.
Gotta go? Follow the rules, Mr. Bigshot Astronaut.
We loved this place. An extraordinary bargain at only $12, I cannot stress enough how worth it is to go out of your way to see the Cosmosphere.
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