356 West 6th St. Erie, PA 16507
Erie’s NASA Connection
Journey to Tomorrow Exhibit Displayed in Erie
More than 3,000 people joined the Erie Planetarium at CelebrateErie! 2008 to visit NASA’s traveling exhibit Journey to Tomorrow. This 53-foot trailer was transformed into an interactive environment packed with hands-on activities and digital learning station.
Journey to Tomorrow houses eight computer kiosks that provide a variety of NASA-developed programming. Examples include “Celebrating 100 Years of Flight,” highlighting NASA’s contributions to the first 100 years of powered flight; “Brain Bites,” which answers common questions about air and space travel; and a lunar landing simulator. Additional workstations include glovebox activities, a planetary gravity demonstrator and a solar system scale where visitors discover how much they would weigh on each of the planets.
An actual moon rock, returned from the Apollo 17 lunar mission, rounds out the experience. As visitors exit, they may have their pictures taken as astronauts on the moon or Mars in the “Picture Yourself in Space” photo booth.
Astronaut Mike Fincke talks with the Erie Planetarium from the International Space Station!
Astronaut Mike Fincke, who has visited the Erie County Historical Society’s Erie Planetarium twice, lived in the International Space Station for several months. He arrived on April 21, 2004, and remained on board for six months. He is a Lieutenant Colonel and has trained as an astronaut for more than seven years. He communicated live on May 25th, 2004 at 2 p.m. with the Erie Planetarium through Amateur Radio. He was telebridged from Australia. Approximately one dozen children asked Mr. Fincke an array of questions as they listened on.