Explore just a few highlights of tHE sPACE mUSEUM AND gRISSOM cENTER’S wORLD-cLASS aEROSPACE aRTIFACT cOLLECTION.
ASTRONAUT GUS GRISSOM AND MCDONNELL AIRCRAFT
Artifacts in the museum’s entrance foyer highlight the pioneering spirit of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation engineers who made early crewed spaceflight possible. Visitors will view the original design equipment used by McDonnell to create America’s first spacecraft. Nearby are artifacts from Gus Grissom, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts and the second American in space. Learn about Grissom’s upbringing and time at NASA, and see why this groundbreaking astronaut has become The Space Museum and Grissom Center’s namesake.
EARLY SPACE EXPLORATION
Experience the beginnings of spaceflight with the German development of the V-2 rocket, the first man-made object to travel into space. See the start of American rocketry with the development of sounding rockets for scientific research and the development of American satellites in response to Russia’s launch of the world’s first satellite Sputnik.
MERCURY AND GEMINI PROGRAMS
When NASA announced the original “Mercury 7” astronauts in 1959, it began a long and storied history of American crewed spaceflight. See artifacts from the first Americans in space used as part of the Mercury Program between 1958 and 1963. Learn the story of the Gemini Program that followed that allowed astronauts to perfect the techniques required to land Americans on the moon just a few short years later.
APOLLO PROGRAM
Showcasing America’s finest hour of the Space Race, the museum’s Apollo display highlights the eleven crewed Apollo missions and six successful lunar landings. Explore the artifacts that made those feats possible and celebrate one of the most significant accomplishments that mankind has ever achieved.
SKYLAB PROGRAM AND APOLLO-SOYUZ TEST PROJECT
As America’s first space station, Skylab housed three crews in low earth orbit between 1973 and 1974. This groundbreaking space station allowed astronauts to work and conduct experiments in space that had never previously been accomplished. See artifacts from this pivotal NASA program. Learn about the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that launched in 1975, a joint docking of American and Soviet spacecraft that marked the end of the Space Race.
SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM
Flying for 30 years and 135 missions, the Space Shuttle is a symbol for humanity’s ability to work and live in low earth orbit. View actual artifacts from this long and storied spaceflight program. Experience a Space Shuttle launch firsthand in our Shuttle Experience, a theater simulating the launch of a Shuttle as it climbs up to an orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour. Look on as an original Space Shuttle launch console displays updates as the launch happens before your eyes, reliving an era that came to an end with the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011.
WOMEN IN SPACE AND MODERN SPACEFLIGHT
Explore the museum’s newest exhibit highlighting the groundbreaking impact that women have had on space exploration here in the Show Me State and across the country. Be introduced to a few of the dozens of pioneering women who have shattered the glass ceiling of spaceflight, and see their artifacts that have accompanied them in space. Learn about the future of spaceflight with models of NASA’s ongoing Artemis and Commercial Crew programs, and discover why we are living in the second golden age of spaceflight today.
