Earlier in our travels I seem to recall we first heard about this place when someone described it to us as “a collection of Soviet space artifacts some crazy guy bought on eBay.” So I was kinda expecting a farm field full of rusting rockets branded with the hammer and sickle. Well, wrong, wrong, wrong, as you can see by the photo . . . no one bought rockets on eBay, as far as we can tell, and it’s an actual museum, and a pretty slick one, at that.
It DOES have Soviet space artifacts: Soyuz and Voskhod space capsules, Soviet space suits . . .
and much more . . . plus little tidbits of American memorabilia like a Mercury capsule and Apollo 13, and a seriously chilling and fascinating exhibit about Nazi Germany’s V-1 and V-2 rockets (these were the bombs that wreaked so much havoc on London; they’re also technology developed by Werner Von Braun, and our space program traces its roots to them).
This museum does a really excellent job of laying out step by step how the U.S. space program was launched, and also our head-to head competition with the Soviets.
Most poignant and painful moment: As we entered the exhibit on Nazi Germany, three young teens pushed past us, two girls and a boy, slim, blonde, pierced. The boy caught sight of on image and paused for a second. “Look,” he said. “That’s a . . uh, a . . swa . . .a swastika!” He was quite obviously completely pleased with himself for simply knowing the name of the symbol. The three of them bounced on without giving the rest of the exhibit a second glance.
One interesting thing about the design of the Cosmosphere: Most of the exhibits are underground. Probably a sensible way to protect valuable artifacts here in Tornado Alley. Earlier in the day we just happened to drive through Greenburg, Kansas, a town of about 1,000 residents that was hit by a tornado this past May. 95 percent of the structures in the town were destroyed.
There was a lot of rebuilding going on and we didn’t feel right just rolling up and taking pictures--it would have been like sightseeing in New Orleans at the height of Katrina--but check this link to see what happened: http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoaerials/
There are still dozens of empty cellar holes, piles of rubble everywhere, half- demolished buildings, temporary Quonset huts, and on what seems like every other corner, spray-painted signs that read, “This way to the Emergency Shelter,” (which is the solid brick county courthouse).
The elementary and high schools have been set up together in tan “portable classrooms” (trailers) grouped around a tiny plot of bright green sod. The lively green grass is the one cheery spot in a tan and dusty, cold and overcast, overall grim and gloomy scene.
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