Courtesy Photo
The California Science Center will present an in-depth look at the hazards and possibilities for human space exploration with a Journey to Space: Exhibition and 3D Film, opening October 29, 2015 and continuing through May 8, 2016. The unique pairing of the exhibition and 3D film offers an extraordinary vision of the future for living and working in space.
“The Journey to Space Exhibition and 3D Film explores both the history and bright future of human space travel, along with the risks and innovative solutions involved,” said Jeffrey N. Rudolph, California Science Center President. “Presenting both the exhibition and film together will have a richer educational impact, giving guests a deeper understanding of the space exploration challenges facing the next generation.”
Guests will get a hands-on, climb-aboard experience at what it takes to live and work in space.
The exhibition examines the extraordinary environment of space, including the very real dangers astronauts face during their mission above-Earth and the adaptations that engineers have developed to help them survive. Visitors will learn about the vacuum of space, radiation, meteoroids, and temperature extremes, while getting a look at all of the ways in which the forbidding environment of space can challenge human exploration.
Guests will find hands-on activities to explore the science of getting to space. This includes learning about “weightlessness” and how it affects the body during a long-term space mission. An experiment with water rockets, varying the amount of air and water used as fuel, will allow them to observe the physics of the launch. Another interactive uses drop towers, which lift items up high and drop them in a free-fall, to demonstrate how familiar objects behave differently in the weightless environment of space.
Visitors will experience the sights, sounds, and smells on board an orbiting space station like the International Space Station (ISS), and try their hands at some of the engineering feats that support astronauts who live in space.
Through games, multimedia components, and interactive exhibits, guests will find out how astronauts eat, sleep, and even use the restroom in space. They’ll encounter firsthand the difficulties of working in space – from operating a robotic arm, to managing the limited power supply available to keep life support systems running, to discovering why working in a pressurized glove in the vacuum of space is so difficult.
Journey to Space: The Exhibition features a full-scale replica of the Destiny Lab, the primary research facility for U.S. payloads on the ISS. With its rotating mechanism, guests stepping into the Destiny Lab will have their sense of orientation challenged as they get a virtual tour from astronauts who have worked there.
Along the way, guests will see incredible footage from past missions of crews living and working in space, in addition to interviews in which astronauts reflect on the trials and accomplishments of their unique line of work.
Journey to Space: The Exhibition was designed and developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota in partnership with the International Space Station Office of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the California Science Center and partner museums.
The California Science Center and IMAX Theater are located in historic Exposition Park just west of the Harbor (110) Freeway at 700 Exposition Park Drive. The Science Center is open daily from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 pm. For more information, please visit www.californiasciencecenter.org
Go Metro to the California Science Center. Ride the Expo Line to the Expo Park/USC Station. For the best route, use the Metro Trip Planner at www.metro.net.
