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Explore Five Family-Friendly NASA Sites

by Sheila Scarborough

The next generation of cosmos explorers is growing up right now, looking up at the sky and wondering not only, “What’s out there”, but also “How can I go up and see it?” If you're a parent looking to foster an interest in all things interplanetary, you're in luck: although the gold standard for a space event is probably seeing a shuttle launch at the famous Kennedy Space Center in Florida, there are other places to peak into the heavens with NASA.

Virginia Air and Space Center, Hampton VA This is the official welcome center for NASA’s venerable Langley Research Center, an aeronautics laboratory since 1917. The Adventures in Flight gallery teaches the history of aviation development and features a replica of the Wright Brothers 1903 Flyer and a series of virtual reality simulators, including “wing-walking” on a 1920s Jenny biplane. SpaceQuest interactive exhibits explore “the Moon, Mars and Beyond” with a Lunar Landing Module and Mars Rover.

Stennis Space Center, Bay St Louis MS Start with a walk under an Apollo lunar module at the visitor’s Launch Pad, then take a narrated bus tour through NASA’s rocket propulsion testing complex. The StennisSphere center invites kids to explore enormous rocket engines and a mock-up of the International Space Station. Prospective astronauts can even climb into a simulator to test-fire engines or practice landing the space shuttle!

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field CA Located close to the Silicon Valley innovation hub, Ames focuses on supercomputing, networking and information technology. The NASA Exploration Center features a “you are there” curved-screen theater showing movies and images, like panoramic views of Mars and the rings of Saturn. Other exhibits include a topographical globe of Mars, lunar samples, the Mercury Redstone 1A capsule and the “Edgarville” interactive airport, where kids can practice their air traffic controller skills in 3D.