Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center Earns Space Certification from the Space Foundation

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Mar. 5, 2010) -- The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, an extraordinary educational, cultural, and historical facility located in Hutchinson, Kansas, has been certified by the Space Foundation as a Space Educational Product.

The Cosmosphere is home to five attractions, all designed to raise awareness and knowledge about space and space exploration:

• The Hall of Space Museum houses a U.S. space artifact collection second only to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, including the actual Apollo 13 command module and the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule, and the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, including a flown Vostok spacecraft;
• The Justice Planetarium is a dome-shaped classroom featuring a multimedia exploration of the solar system, navigational technology, deep space and astronomical research;
• Dr. Goddard's Lab presents live demonstrations of early rocket technology that transports audiences back to the 1930s lab of Dr. Robert Goddard, the pioneer of modern rocketry;
• The Carey IMAX® Dome Theater, the 12th IMAX® theater built in the world, features a 44-foot screen;
• Five camp programs that are designed specifically to spark children's interest in space, including Solar System Camp for students entering grades 2 and 3, Lunar Base Camp for students entering grades 3 and 4, Home Planet Camp and Alien Adventure Camp for students entering grades 4 and 5, and Mars Academy for students entering grades 5 and 6; and
• The Future Astronaut Training Program, which offers students in grades 6 through high school an authentic astronaut training experience, including time in a Space Shuttle simulator, a 4-G centrifuge, a multi-axis trainer, a Soyuz trainer, and a stress simulator, and - in the advanced sessions - underwater SCUBA exercises, ropes course team training, and travel to Johnson Space Center in Houston and Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Every year, approximately 150,000 people from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries visit the Cosmosphere, which is Kansas' only affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and the only location designated by the Smithsonian to restore flown U.S. spacecraft. The Cosmosphere also builds exhibits and replica space hardware for other museums and for the Hollywood film industry.

To learn more about the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, go to www.cosmo.org.

About Space Certification
The Space Foundation's Space Certification Program recognizes products and services that were originally developed for a space-related endeavor and have now been adapted to improve life here on Earth. Certified Education Products are used in educational environments to stimulate interest and knowledge about space. Space Certification, along with the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame®, communicate the impact of the space industry through beneficial spin-off technologies. For information and to see a list of certified products, go to www.SpaceConnection.org.

About the Space Foundation
The Space Foundation is an international, nonprofit organization and the foremost advocate for all sectors of the space industry - civil, commercial, military and intelligence. Founded in 1983, the Space Foundation is a leader in space awareness activities, educational programs that bring space into the classroom, and major industry events (including the upcoming 26th National Space Symposium), all in support of its mission "to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable, and propel humanity." An expert in all aspects of the global space industry, the Space Foundation publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity and provides three indices that track daily performance of the space industry. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation conducts research and analysis and government affairs activities from its Washington, D.C., office and has field representatives in Houston, Texas, and Cape Canaveral, Fla. For more information, visit www.SpaceFoundation.org. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and read about the latest space news and Space Foundation activities in Space Watch.

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