Cosmosphere is Space Certification Partner

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, an extraordinary educational, cultural, and historical facility located in Hutchinson, Kansas, is the Space Foundation's newest Space Certification Program partner.

Certified 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 and the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, including the actual Apollo 13 command module, the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule, and 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 & 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, click here.

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, click here.