Hutchinson, KS?

That's right, boys and girls. It may be hard to believe, but Hutchinson, KS is home of one of the most amazing collections of early rocketry and space flight artifacts outside of the Smithsonian. I'm referring to the one and only Cosmosphere which Katie and I just took a trip to see on this fine Memorial Day. This is a town of 41,000 people about an hour's drive due NW of Wichita and not the type of place you would expect such a collection to reside. The museum proper isn't all that large physically but I would guess that it would take over four hours to go through and just read all the placards. Not only are there explanations for the artifacts but the museum also provides a very good history of early rocketry and space-craft itself.

And the artifacts, well, this is nothing to sneeze at. To name a few of the more impressive items, the museum is currently the custodian of:

        -One each of the V-1 and V-2 rockets developed by Germany in WWII.
        -What are effectively serial numbers two for both Sputnik I and Sputnik II (These are the satellites that would have been sent to space if the originals didn't make it.)
        -A space suit used by one of the astronauts on Apollo 13.
        -The engineering development unit of the lunar module used in the Apollo missions (one of the few left in the world as most are sitting on the moon right now).
        -The actual, honest-to-goodness Apollo 13 command module in which the astronauts managed to survive their treacherous voyage.
        -A fully-assembled but decommissioned SR-71 Blackbird.

Like I said, these are just the highlights. There are a ton of smaller items from the early days of rocketry which are simply truly amazing to see in-person. There is also an OMNImax theater and planetarium to round out the outer-space experience. Katie and I were more than occupied from 10am to 4pm and we didn't quite get to see it all.

I would have never thought in my entire life I would be able to do something like touch an SR-71 Blackbird with my hands or see any actual Apollo command module but, well, I've done both now. So if you're ever in the area and have a little bit of a space-bug in you, I would heartily recommend you stop in and spend the time exploring the museum. I think it will be worth your while.

Who would have though such wonders would be found in Hutchinson, KS?