I think one of the most underrated tourist attractions in the Midwest is the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, located in rural Hutchinson. The Cosmosphere was founded in 1962 as the Hutchinson Planetarium and is now Kansas’ only affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and a AAA GEM attraction. When I was in second grade I visited for the first time and fell in love with the place.  For my birthday that year my folks bought me a membershipand now, almost thirty years later, I am still a member.
Every time I enter the building I turn into a ten-year-old boy.  There is an actual SR-71 Blackbird in the lobby which could fly from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles in 65 minutes.  It is breathtaking to see that jet resting in the atrium.

The box office is located under a full-size model of the space shuttle.  I am always surprised that the shuttle is covered in fabric panels, not metal.  I picked up my tickets (free for members) and immediately got in line for the movie.  The Cosmosphere features an Omnimax presentation, an IMAX film projected onto a dome shaped screen and usually has a rotation of two or three films on any given day.

After the movie, I head to the museum section, which is presented in a timeline format for better understanding.  It begins with Nazi Germany and their desire for long range weapons, which would jumpstart the space race between the U.S. and Russia.

Featured is a Sputnik satellite that was a flight-ready backup for Sputnik I and Sputnik II.  There is the little lunar module made for the dog Laika, the first animal to fly to space.  Other highlights include a Titan rocket and the slide rulers were used by Sergey Korolyov and Wernher von Braun, lead scientists in their countries’ space projects.

The next couple of galleries are my favorites.  The Gemini X is the first -- the Gemini's was designed for advanced space travel, including missions long enough for a trip to the Moon and back, the first American spacewalks and the first rendezvous and docking in space.  I am always amazed at how tiny the capsules were back then. 

The next gallery pays tribute to the Apollo program, starting with an actual Apollo White Room, the loading area where the astronauts enter the capsule.  One of the museum’s best artifacts is the original Apollo 13 command module.  The Cosmosphere received it as a gift and, after several years of restoration, it sits proudly on display near a theater running the movie Apollo 13.  Interesting side note, the Cosmosphere served as an advisory team on that movie. The next area features a complete mockup of a lunar module on the moon, with a lunar rover to show how the astronauts got around.

The last gallery focuses on The Liberty Bell 7, from the Mercury program.  In 1961, a Mercury rocket carried astronaut Virgil ‘Gus’ Grissom in the Liberty Bell capsule on a 15-minute ride through space. After the ocean splashdown, the capsule starting taking on water and sank.  There has been some controversy as to whether the hatch “blew” or if Grissom activated the hatch. In 1999, the Discovery Channel funded an expedition to find the sunken capsule and once found, it was sent to the Cosmosphere for restoration.  After a tour across the country, it returned to Hutchinson for permanent installation. (Grissom was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission in 1967).

The Cosmosphere contains a lot of other great artifacts like space suits from the US and Russia, a moon rock, an Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Craft, the largest American meteorite ever found and a piece of the space shuttle Columbia retrieved from its disastrous ending.

If you happen to find yourself driving through Kansas, plan an afternoon at the Cosmosphere, check their website for the latest information on exhibits and films.  Also, if you take a look at the “Friends of the Cosmosphere” board by the entrance to the gift shop, you will see my name on the list.

Click on the map to locate the Cosmosphere with TripTik Travel Planner.

The AAA GEM® Designation - While AAA does not rate attractions, we do evaluate them for AAA Approval. The inspectors that perform the evaluations may recommend a GEM designation for attractions of exceptional interest that greatly exceed requirements. A AAA GEM® attraction offers a Great Experience for Members. See AAA GEM attraction information in AAA TourBook guides or view a list of AAA GEM attractions by state.

Photos courtesy of The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.