Exhibits

Welcome to the little museum with the big ECHO! We preserve the character of the American Space Program. How? By preserving not only individual artifacts, but the human stories behind those artifacts!

Come visit our facility in Titusville, Florida. Our exhibit halls offer everything from spacecraft parts to astronaut suits to photos and working launch consoles, and even Soviet cosmonaut mementos. Our galleries are dedicated to Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Shuttle, Women of Space, unmanned missions, and the future of space. And once you are done with our American Space Museum, you can enjoy a leisurely “Walk of Fame” just down the street in Space View Park, where you will see our beautiful steel and granite monuments and engravings dedicated to all those who made space exploration a reality. But our purpose isn’t just to honor the past. We are also planning a new section dedicated to the future of American space exploration, as well as a Children’s Discovery Room.

Our galleries include:

Women of Space Gallery

This room is dedicated to the many women who have worked in the space program including those how have flown into space.

Mercury / Gemini Gallery

This gallery pays tribute to the astronauts, the engineers and the innovators who dreamed the dream…and made it a reality. Featuring such gems as an prototype Mercury lighted space glove, the Mercury spacecraft hatch from the MA-1 mission, a real banana pellet fed to the “first” astronauts (Ham, Enos, Able and Baker), and a couple of “naughty ladies” who surprised John Glenn and Scott Carpenter on their launch days.

After soaking in the energy and innovation of Project Mercury continue on to Project Gemini. Here you will learn about the program that taught us to perform rendezvous and docking, and EVA (space walking).

The Gemini exhibit will walk you through the chronology of the entire project, from the Molly Brown through to the triumphant work done by “Dr. Rendezvous” himself, Buzz Aldrin, on Gemini XII.

You’ll see the thruster controller that failed and caused the Gemini VIII mission to end prematurely and the strip chart that shows the reaction of the Gemini VI astronauts to their launch abort.

Apollo Gallery

This is our largest gallery because Apollo still fascinates and inspires like no other project in our space program. The exhibits recall the drama and determination as thousands of Americans labored to make the coveted Moon landing a reality. This gallery will take you from the tragic fire of Apollo 1 through the testing of the spindly little LEM (lunar module.) You will experience the challenges and danger of Apollo 8 – man’s first mission to travel to another celestial body – followed by the progressive missions of Apollo 9 and 10, and culminating in the triumph of Apollo 11, which put mankind on the Moon. Then come the six later Apollo missions including the “successful failure” of Apollo 13.

But Apollo didn’t end with the moon landings. We celebrate Skylab, America’s first space station, and the ending if the Cold War with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Space Shuttle Gallery

America’s Space Shuttle Orbiter was the first reusable manned space vehicle that made multiple flights into orbit. Its missions between 1981 and 2011 involved carrying large payloads to various orbits that included segments to be added to the International Space Station (ISS), providing crew rotation for the space station, and performing service missions.

Our Shuttle exhibit helps to convey the value of the Shuttle program and to stress how Americans (and, indeed, the world) benefited from the advancements and discoveries made possible by our experiences and research in low earth orbit. The shuttle project gave us both triumph and tragedy, and we explore each of those moments as we discover the importance of this important exploration initiative.

Artifacts include pieces of the thermal protection system, an orange Launch and Re-entry suit that was used on six missions and Norm Thagard’s recumbent seat used on STS-71.

This area features actual consoles removed from the famous Launch Control Center Firing Rooms at Complex 39. Here kids can sit in front of active console displays and imagine they are helping control a Space Shuttle launch.

Cape Canaveral Gallery

One of our most popular exhibits, this room allows visitors to experience the sounds and sensations of an actual countdown and launch. It features an actual launch sequencer from Launch Complex 16 that was taken off line as the Cold War wound down.

It also contains actual Atlas Centaur launch consoles from launch pad 36A (last used in January 2005). The entire complex was razed and this console is all that remains of the pad that was active for 40 years. Here kids can sit in front of active console displays, throw switches, and imagine they are helping control an Atlas launch.

Rotating Galleries

Limited time exhibits will include subjects such as the Hubble Space Telescope, technology spinoffs, and space related toys.

The Discovery Room

This room has a coloring and game table for the little ones and a variety of age-appropriate books and wall hangings.