Around the Town Thursday: Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center

It's Thursday and time for another edition of Around the Town Thursday!  We're still hanging out in Hutchinson for Museum Day Live! but we've moved from Strataca - Kansas Underground Salt Museum to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center!

Mercury-Redstone Rocket located outside
the Cosmosphere's main entrance

Since D1 and I were already in Hutchinson we decided to go to both the Salt Museum and Cosmosphere on Museum Day Live.  The great thing about the Cosmosphere is that there's something there for everyone...literally.  Besides the museum and it's massive amount of exhibits, there are films, planetarium shows, an A/V tour, flight simulator and a special conservation project tour.  You can pick and choose what you see and do while at the museum, but whatever you do make sure you allow plenty of time!  The Cosmosphere website offers sample itineraries for various amounts of time which are good guidelines.  Here's my couple of pennies worth: forget doing anything else the day you visit the Cosmosphere because it's absolutely worth spending all day there!

D1 and I were on limited time because Ginger J had a Boy Scout function that evening so we knew we wouldn't be able to do everything.  We skipped the shows (and didn't know about the conservation project tour) and we headed straight into the museum.  I've been to the Cosmosphere before but it's been a very long time.  There was a new feature I hadn't seen before prior to entering the museum: you could stand in front of one of the museum's beautiful murals and have your picture taken!

D1 and me at the Cosmosphere in front of a mural honoring the
founder, Patty Carey, and the development of the Cosmosphere
Mural painted by Robert McCall

My favorite piece of artwork at the museum is the stained glass window above the entrance to the exhibits which pays tribute to lost astronauts.

It's a beautiful piece and I can't help but stare at it whenever I go to the museum.

The museum is chronologically laid out very well.  As for the actual layout I personally don't care for all the angles, I feel that it causes the museum to be disjointed and, at times, difficult to know which direction to go and what to see next.  That, however, is my only complaint about this museum and it's a minor complaint at that.  The museum is packed FULL of great exhibits and information.  It takes you step by step from the very beginning of the space race to as current as they can get it without compromising current projects.  There's even a small exhibit about the Berlin wall.  It amazes me how many exhibits the museum staff has been able to fit into the space they have in the museum.  I'd love to see the museum be given the opportunity to have a larger building.  I can only imagine what the staff could do with it.

There are so many exhibits it's hard to choose just one or two to highlight here.  Some of the ones I enjoyed the most are the Berlin wall exhibit, the Kennedy exhibit, the Liberty Bell 7 and the moon rock.

A piece of the Berlin wall on exhibit at the Cosmosphere

Moon rock on display at the Cosmosphere

Liberty Bell 7 capsule (post restoration)

Interior picture of the Liberty Bell 7 capsule (post restoration)

But out of all the exhibits there was one that was my absolute favorite: the exhibit case on John Glenn and his space flight.  John Glenn was my favorite astronaut.  He was smart, likable, well-respected, hard-working and just an all around good guy.  While not as noticed as Neil Armstrong and Gus Grissom he was an important part of the space race.  It was nice to see him get some well deserved spotlight with his own exhibit case.

John Glenn: First American in Orbit

Newspaper with headline announcing John Glenn's successful orbit

There's also a really great outdoor exhibit of the Titan rocket that you can walk around the base of.  Unfortunately it was closed the day we went due to bad weather (I was a sad panda, I really enjoy looking around the Titan rocket pit).  Again, there is so much to see and do there it's impossible to list everything.

The staff was friendly and helpful.  They don't hover around you while you're there but if you need something they're always available.  There's a food court if you get hungry and, of course, a gift shop that has some really cool goodies for sale.

The Cosmosphere website is informative and worth checking out to help you plan your visit to the museum.  I didn't think the ticket prices were too bad for what you get.  The museum has longer hours than most museums as well so there's plenty of time to peruse the exhibits if you plan ahead a little bit.  The Cosmosphere also offers opportunities for Scouts, field trips, special events and SPACE CAMP!  Who wouldn't jump at the chance to be an astronaut for a week!

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center was voted one of the original 8 Wonders of Kansas.  I give it an A++!

Around the Town Thursday: Strataca - Kansas Underground Salt Museum

It's Thursday, who else is excited for Friday eve?!  Another Thursday brings us to another Around the Town Thursday post.  Today we're looking at the Strataca - the Kansas Underground Salt Museum.

Entrance to the Visitors Center of the Kansas Underground
Salt Museum located in Hutchinson, Kansas

Once a year the Smithsonian Magazine hosts an event they call Museum Day Live! and on that day you can get free admission to one of over 1,500 museums that choose to participate for you and a guest.  It's not just Kansas that participates, this is a nationwide event with FaceBook and Twitter presences in addition to their website.  It's a fantastic event and makes me love Smithsonian Magazine that much more for hosting such an event.

This year D1 and I were actually free the day Museum Day was scheduled for so we decided to make a day of it.  D1 had been wanting to go to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson for awhile so I signed up for a ticket for us.  Tickets are issued by household so at some point he decided to sign up for a ticket to the Salt Museum, also located in Hutchinson.  I was excited about going to the Cosmosphere but to find out that we'd be including the Salt Museum in our trip made my day.  It had been awhile since I'd been to the Cosmosphere but I'd never been to the Salt Museum.  And, oh!  A blog post to boot.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Hutchinson is about four hours away from Kansas City so we got up at really-stinking-early-o'clock in the morning to get to Strataca early enough for the first tour.  The museum is actually below ground...650 feet below ground to be exact.  The building that serves as the entrance actually doesn't hold much more than the ticket counter, waiting area, restrooms, locker area and tour prep areas.  The tour groups are limited to 28 people because of the capacity of the elevator down to the museum.  Even though you're assigned to a tour group, you're not actually tied to that group for the entire time you're in the museum.  The museum is self-paced once you get thru the initial tour guide introduction.

Large piece of salt mined in the Salt Museum

The museum website recommends allowing at least two hours for the museum experience.  You could spend far, far longer than two hours in this museum.  The exhibits are interesting, videos informative and staff friendly and knowledgeable.  The museum offers two excursion rides, each costing an additional fee after the purchase of the regular ticket (there are several different ticket options, including a Salt/Cosmosphere combo ticket).  The Train Ride and Dark Ride are absolutely worth the additional purchase.  As an added bonus to the great tours these rides provide, taking the Dark Ride gets you the opportunity to take home your own piece of salt from the museum.

D1 enjoying the Train Ride at the Salt Museum

Having fun at the Salt Museum!

I absolutely recommend going to see the Salt Museum!  Make sure you allow plenty of time so you don't rush through the museum.  If you have the time and money to do both rides in addition to the museum, go for it!  D1 and I both thought the rides were worth the price paid.  Be open minded when you go, it's not all about the mining process.  You also learn about the history of the mine, the people who worked in the mine, geology, and you even learn a little bit about post-mining storage facilities that work in conjunction with the mining operation.  Don't hesitate to ask questions, the museum staff is knowledgeable and ready and willing to answer them.

And the Strataca doesn't stop with the museum!  They have an events area (and often hold weddings, meetings, theater performances and other events there), different opportunities for Scouts, schools and kids in general and various special events, many of which sound like so much fun!

Take a day and go deep into Kansas...underground.