Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum500 South Apollo DriveWapakoneta, Ohio 45895www.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 CenterChicago Museum of Science and Industry57th St. and Lake Shore Dr.Chicago, Ill. 60637www.msichicago.orgFeatures: 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 Center1100 N. Plum St.Hutchinson, KS 67501www.cosmo.orgFeatures: 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 MuseumSmithsonian InstitutionIndependence Ave. between 4th and 7th Sts., SWWashington, D.C. 20560www.nasm.si.eduFeatures: 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 CenterOne Tranquility Base,Huntsville, AL, 35805www.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 Telescopewww.skypub.comA 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 Connectionnauts.comAn on-line guide to space, the history of its exploration, and the astronauts. Welcome to the Planetspds.jpl.nasa.gov/planetsSpectacular photos and easy-to-follow information on the planets and the spacecraft that have explored them Starchildstarchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChildA 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.
