The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is a museum and educational facility in Hutchinson, Kansas that is best known for the display and restoration of space artifacts and educational camps.
Included in the collection at the Cosmosphere are an SR-71 Blackbird, the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft from Mercury 4 and the Odyssey command module from Apollo 13, as well as authentic Redstone and Titan II launch vehicles used in the Mercury and Gemini programs. Restored World War II V-1 and V-2 rockets are also on display. The Cosmosphere is the only museum in the world that has both an authentic restored V-1 flying bomb and an authentic restored V-2 rocket. It is also the only museum outside of Russia that has an authentic, flown Vostok capsule. Other notable artifacts include the Emmy Award won by the Apollo 8 mission and numerous prototype spacesuits. Along with the prototype spacesuits are some suits that have actually flown. Both American and Russian spacesuits are shown. Another prized item in the Cosmosphere’s collection is a piece of moon rock.
An interesting note about the Cosmosphere collection is that nearly all of the vehicles, rockets, spacecraft, and spacesuits that you will see are either the real thing or something called a "Flight Ready Backup". A flight ready backup is identical, in all respects, to the item actually flown. If a problem is detected in a spacecraft, rocket, or suit before it is flown, the flight ready backup fills in on the mission for the damaged item. The only fake items in the cosmosphere is the model of "Glamorous Glennis," the X-1 flown by Chuck Yeager, and the life-sized space shuttle replica that greets visitors.
Other items include a collection showing the various tools and vacuum-packed foods that astronauts would carry with them on a typical mission.
The Cosmosphere museum begins with the earliest experiments in rocketry during the World War II era, explores through the "Space Race" and Cold War, and continues through the modern times with the Space Shuttle and International Space Station.
Additionally, the Cosmosphere’s Space Works built much of the replicated spacecraft hardware seen in the movies Apollo 13, "From the Earth to the Moon", and Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D.
Photography Credits: Rich Wysockey of Los Angeles, California. Log on to www.wysockeyphoto.com. Contact him at (310) 463-5546.