Journey to space and beyond with new Museum of Idaho exhibit - East Idaho News
Idaho Falls

Journey to space and beyond with new Museum of Idaho exhibit

  Published at  | Updated at

IDAHO FALLS — Science tells us that even the nearest stars lie at almost unfathomable distances from us here on Earth. But from now until Nov. 25, you need only travel to the Museum of Idaho to get a little closer.

The museum is hosting the exhibit “Space: A Journey to our Future.” The exhibit features items that pay tribute the history of space exploration, as well as items that give a glimpse into humanity’s future among the stars.

“This exhibit is totally immersive,” says Deborah Chessey, director of marketing at the Museum of Idaho.

“Space: A Journey to our Future” showcases a wealth of interactive features that give attendees a chance to get a taste of what life in space is like.

shuttle tiles
These silica tiles once protected the space shuttle from burning up during re-entry of Earth’s atmosphere. | Adam Forsgren, EastIdahoNews.com

moon camera
This camera took photos of the surface of the moon. | Adam Forsgren, EastIdahoNews.com

“Guests get to walk through a space station, weigh themselves on the moon and Mars, touch meteorites from the moon and Mars and ride the space bike,” she says.

Chessey says this “traveling exhibit” was rented by the museum and arrived on five semi-tractor trailers. The exhibit took a team of technicians a little over a week to assemble.

And that means there’s a little something for space aficionados of every stripe.

3 million dollar moon rock
This is what a $3 million moon rock looks like. | Adam Forsgren, EastIdahoNews.com

Here are some highlights:

  • Guests can pilot a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on Mars, design their own spacecraft and plan out a Martian colony.
  • One room is set up as a theater for a short film that takes a brief look at the history of the universe and ponders mankind’s role in the cosmos.
  • curiosity generator
    A multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator, power source for the Mars rover Curiosity. | Adam Forsgren, EastIdahoNews.com

  • Another room is filled with displays illustrating the contribution to space exploration made by scientists, engineers and technicians. Included are the kind of fuel cells, which convert heat from decaying plutonium into electricity, that power NASA’s Curiosity rover. These cells use nuclear fuel supplied by the Idaho National Laboratory.

Chessey says her favorite piece of the exhibit is an iron meteorite that came down in a farmer’s field in Monteview.

monteview meteorite
The Monteview meteorite. | Adam Forsgren, EastIdahoNews.com

“It weighs in at 57 pounds and it is one of only 96 approved meteorites that is classified as iron,” she says. “Iron meteorites usually originate from planetary cores, which makes this a very rare and distinctive find from our home state!”

For more information on the exhibit, and for museum prices and hours, click here.

SUBMIT A CORRECTION