mcauliffe-shepard discovery center

We visited the McAuliffe-Sheppard Discovery Center with our 6 year old grandson. Admission is $10.00 per person, but from what I understand, some libraries have passes that they lend out to their patrons - our did not. There was a lot to see, but is probably geared for older kids. Most of the exhibits involve heavy reading. There are artifacts and models of various space related items: rockets, planes, lunar landers, etc.The best part of the visit was the movie in the planetarium, based on the "Magic Treehouse" series. The movie is an additional $5 per person - It was really done well. There were a couple of 3 or 4 year olds that cried and fussed all through the presentation because they got scared, so I would not recommend it for them.Other than the movie, my grandson's favorite parts were the display cases with Star Wars, Star Trek and other collectable pieces, the models I mentioned above and the shuttle landing simulator. Note: Their café is closed for renovations and the gift shop has minimal items, which may or may not be good for you. We made a flattened out penny, which was just fine for us. Bring your own shiny penny, as the gift shop didn't have any when we asked.

The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center is a great way to entertain kids for a few hours. There are a number of space related exhibits and a very good Planatarium that runs shows every hour. Plan for about a two hour stay and check out the movie schedule ahead of going so that you can see the best feature.

We took our daughter here as my wife and I both went as children growing up. She loved it and so did we. It's full of great facts and history surrounding such a unique tragedy.

This was not the same as the last time I visited. The last time, it was wayyy more kid-friendly. You would get your picture taken and choose a funny username type thing and then get it on an id card. You would go to each game and slide your card then you could go online later to enter your id number and see your scores. It was incredibly bland this time around. Nothing much to look at, just basically for adults. The planetarium was fun, as always though. I wouldn't recommend unless it is just adults.

Such a great spot to learn about spacetravel. It will hold the interest of young children, teenagers and adults. Plenty of parking.

The mission of the center is admirable - focus on space and space exploration. The center has several planetarium shows to choose from (additional fee). The displays are spread out over two floors. Some of the displays are minimal in presentation. There is much reading information. I think it is more for children to explore and absorb. The staff is helpful. The parking is free and plentiful.

We visited in August. Staff were very helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. There is a real F8 Crusader Fighter Jet which my son loved and we all thought was neat. There was Alan Shepard's Gemini capsule. Upstairs included old newspapers of space milestones which were neat to read. Small moon rock in front entrance. The star attraction was the movie in the dome theatre (there was an extra fee). Felt like you were actually in space. Not a big center but found what was there was fun and educational. Visited for about 3 hours.

Our grandsons aged 7 to 15 enjoyed our visit to the center and the associated planetarium. They liked the interactive displays and there was something of interest for all the diverse ages. They have access to much larger centers but there was still enough to keep them engaged for more than three hours. Note that you can bring your lunch and eat either inside or at the outside picnic tables or there is a nice looking cafe (we didn't try it).

My 11-year-old daughter is into planets and science so I brought her here one day while camping about a half hour away. The museum is small and nice, but doesn't have a lot of engaging exhibits. She and I loved the infrared camera exhibit and a great employee interacted with us and did some science experiments with us. That was great. The collection of minerals was cool, too. A moon exhibit hall is practically hidden behind a large picture of the moon. Upstairs had some historic newspapers but not much else to look at. We did see a planetarium movie about some aliens looking for a new planet to live on which was cute. With the movie and looking around, we stayed about 2 hours if that (cost $27 for both us.) It was nice, but I wouldn't go back. The center just needs 'more.'

I took my 10 year old grandson and I must say it was very unexciting. Many of the interacting displays were not operating. There was one weather station where we spent 15 minutes tryingto get it to work and when I spoke to someone he said it had been broken for some time "how about a sign to let us know it's out of order?" There were some interesting individual displaysso it wasn't a complete disappointment, but I didn't notice any excitement on the part of my grandson. Even the gift shop was boring.

We stopped and enjoyed a magic tree house show with our younger children at the planetarium. There are a few additional exhibits like IR imaging , satellite imaging station, and exhibit on Mars. Nice building and well staffed on day we visited.

We only had a few minutes to stop and was pleasantly suprised to find the Mercury Redstone Rocket was a free plaza outside the museum with very informative placards and a great sense of the size of these rockets all for free.

This was my third trip to this center. It's missing something. I brought my grandchildren and they were also a bit disappointed. We covered the first floor then took time to have out lunch before going up to the second floor thinking there would be as much up there as on the first floor. We couldn't have been more wrong. There was very, very little on the second floor. Apparentlly the exhibits that used to be up there have been removed and they are trying to get replacements. In the mean time there's almost nothing up there. I hate saying this because I've loved it in the past but this was disappointing.

There is an actual space capsule, Navy jet plane, rocket. planetarium and many other exhibits. Its an extremely good value as you can buy a ticket and spend all day

So many interactive things to do...both children & adults will enjoy it. You can even try to land a Space Shuttle in a mock up (note: it is very hard!). Make sure to go into the planetarian & sit thru one of the celestial shows (check their website for times). On the first Friday of each month, the local stargazers all gather in theri parking lot & you can just show up & the members will let you look at the stars thru their own telescopes! FUN & FREE !!!!!