The Kansas Cosmosphere has been open since 1962 and the land that it sits on is the Kansas fairgrounds. Since then the building as grown a lot. From just a small dome shaped laboratory to a multi story museum with many artifacts from America and even different counties. This article is gonna cover some of the key history of the building and the important artifacts housed in the building.
One of the many cool things about the Comsosphere is that it is the only Smithsonian affiliated museum in the state of Kansas. The Cosmosphere also is the home to the largest collection of soviet space artifacts other than the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The soviet artifacts that it holds are the Sputnik 1 flight ready backup and a Sputnik 2 model and
One of the most intriguing artifacts they have at the facility is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which is only 1 of 15 left in the entire world. The SR-71 is one of the fastest planes ever made and could reach a top speed of about 2,100MPH. This speed is 4 times faster than the cruising speed of most traditional commercial airliners. The SR-71 was however last manufactured in 1998 due to budget cuts and high operational cost and these factors are the reason the plane is so rare and astonishing to find and see one, especially in our own home state of Kansas.
Lastly, some of the four main facilities that the Cosmosphere holds are The Hall of Space Museum, The Justice Planetarium, The Carey Digital Dome Theater
and Dr. Goddard’s Laboratory. Dr. Goddard’s Laboratory is used to demonstrate how rockets work with live experiments performed by employees. The Justice Planetarium is used for a variety of things but one of its uses is showing the constellations in the night sky throughout the seasons. Going through all 4 seasons and showing what constellations you can see during those times. The Carey Digital Dome Theater is a 4K dome theater that is a 2 story all around viewing experience. With a variety of science documentaries on the weekdays and long feature length films on the weekends.
The Cosmosphere is a building full of wonder and history of space. With many different ways to learn and explore space travel and the history of aeronautics. Go check it out!
