Cosmosphere, KS 10-16

The mystery grain, at least to me, now has a name. Thank you Mavis and Uncle Marty. It is sorghum, also know as milo. It is originally from Africa and is an important crop there and in eastern countries. It grows well under arid conditions and has similar properties as maize so it is being used for ethanol. It is a feed crop here but in other countries is a cereal grain. Most here would know “couscous”. The leaves and stems are used in building materials. Another renewable resource that seems to be under-utilized in this country.

Yesterday we went to the Cosmosphere Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas. What an incredible place! Even if you aren’t a fan of the space program, missiles or rockets, you’ll still learn something and be fascinated by the displays! We spent over four hours there, just in the museum. We never made it to the planetarium or the IMAX theatre.

There are two big rockets outside the building, one being a Titan. The amazement starts right inside the lobby doors as a huge black jet is smack in your face. There is also a life-size, left-side replica of the space shuttle and a couple smaller jets suspended from the ceiling.

The black, sleek jet was a SR-71 spyplane, #17961. It was the worlds fastest spy plane and its top speed was in excess of Mach 3 (2,000 mph). It burned 8,000 gallons of fuel per hour. It was built in 1966 and last flew on February 2, 1977. It is 107 feet, 5 inches long with a wingspan of 55 feet, 7 inches. Its unfueled weight is 60,000 lbs. and fully fueled weight was 145,000 lbs. This plane logged in over 1,601 flight hours and is on loan from the US Air Force since 1993. We thought it was funny that it is on “loan” when they mounted it on its huge piers and then built the lobby around it! Going to be hard to give it back! It is angled at 30 degrees which replicates its final turn prior to lining up with the runway to land. It was decommissioned in 1990. There were more facts that amounted to one very amazing aircraft. I tried to get a decent picture of it, but in trying to keep from pointing the camera right into one of the spotlights it was difficult. Being that close to something that big, is really hard to get in its entirety without a wide angle lens.

This was the best historical museum we have seen to date. They were so complete with the facts and dates. We have seen a lot of museums that just assume you should know the dates of something by other information in the display…nope.

They covered the history of rockets and missiles from World War II, through the Cold War when the space race took off through the Apollo missions. I’m sure this museum being a work in progress will only keep adding to its extensive collection. It is affiliated with the Smithsonian and this museum has the second largest collection of rocket and space artifacts, with the Smithsonian being the first.

We learned quite a number of things about WW II that we didn’t know. There were two big slabs of the Wall from Germany. There was a moon rock and real, been into space tools and space suits.

The actual Liberty Bell of the Mercury 7 was on display and fully restored after spending 38 years in the ocean. Gus Grissum was the 2nd American in space. He had a successful flight but upon hitting the ocean the hatch jettisoned prematurely. Gus Grissom scrambled out but his suit and the capsule were both filling with water. He nearly drowned and the capsule was so heavy filled with water that the recovery helicopter had to let it go or risk loosing his craft and crew. The capsule was recovered in 1999 and was documented by the Discovery Channel. It was fully restored here at the Hall of Space. This place is world renowned for its restoration and does work for museums world-wide. It also creates the craft used in some of the movies.

Also on display was the actual Apollo XIII capsule that the three astronauts spent so many days in while NASA figured out how to get them home. It was a small space to be packed in for so long!

Those are just the highlights. There was actual space food, and “bathroom” stuff, missiles, rockets, moon rovers and on and on. If you are ever going through this area it is well worth the time!

You think of Texas, California or Florida for space related museums…not Kansas. It was truly a phenomenal place.

That was our day. Our heads were exploding with information! It had rained most of the day so it was a good place to be…inside.

Today is a rest day, blogging, laundry, soup-making and other wonderful activities! Yet again I couldn't get all the pictures I had planned on this entry, so they'll follow later.