Hutchinson, Kansas -
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

Second only to The Smithsonian in space artifacts, and it's in a suburban neighborhood in Kansas. See Cosmonaut cast-offs, Nazi ballistics, and American moon diapers. Roadsideamerica.com Report...

Kansas Cosmosphere - Space debris

The Cosmosphere is second only to the Smithsonian in space artifacts. Started years ago by a private family, the Cosmosphere has examples of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules, along with a Mercury/Redstone rocket, a Gemini/Titan II rocket, an SR-71 Blackbird, and LOTS of historical items, including a restored V-1 'buzz bomb' and restored V-2.

The Cosmosphere is also the home of SpaceWorks, the company who did all the spacecraft interiors for the movie 'Apollo 13' (sez Ron Howard, "I would have used NASA to reconstruct the interiors, but the folks at SpaceWorks could make it look more authentic." In addition, SpaceWorks has been restoring the _real_ Apollo 13 ("Odyssey") and were integral in retrieving and restoring Liberty Bell 7, Gus Grissom's capsule which spent 30+ years at the bottom of the Pacific. (The Smithsonian has titled Liberty Bell 7 over to the Cosmosphere; it's the only flown U.S. manned capsule NOT now owned by the Smithsonian.) [Jordan Mogerman, 05/02/2001]

[RA: One prized exhibit is the spacesuit of Svetlana Savitskaya, the first woman to walk in space -- the only Soviet spacesuit the former USSR allowed to be displayed in the West, before they became desperate and cashed in on their space debris.]

Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule restored
Gus Grissom's controversial "Screw the Pooch" Mercury space capsule is being restored at the Kansas Cosmosphere, Hutchison, KS. The capsule was recently salvaged from the Atlantic ocean's bottom, where it had lain undisturbed for 38 years.... [09/12/1999] Complete News Story