History takes flight in Hutchinson

For more information on the Kansas Cosmosphere, call (316) 662- 2305 or visit its Web site at www.cosmo.org. For more information on Hutchinson-area attractions, call the Greater Hutchinson Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 691-4282 or visit www.hutchchamber.com on the Web.

By PHIL ANDERSON

The Capital-Journal

HUTCHINSON --- Kansas doesn't conjure up images of rocket ships and blast offs the way Florida and Houston do.

Yet we have the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, a world- class museum that attracts visitors from across the nation and around the world to Hutchinson.

The Cosmosphere was another of those Kansas places I had always heard about but never visited. Hutchinson seemed too far, too out of the way, from Topeka.

As I discovered, Hutchinson really isn't that far ---160 miles from Topeka --- making the Cosmosphere an attractive destination for those planning day-trip excursions from northeast Kansas.

I had always pictured the Cosmosphere on the edge of town on a sprawling piece of real estate, but here it was, at 1100 N. Plum, right in the middle of town, a stone's throw from the Hutchinson Community College football stadium and the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

Now affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the Kansas Cosmosphere is far more than rocket ships, and it holds appeal even for those who aren't space buffs.

It is primarily a museum of history, and with its extensive collection of American and Russian space artifacts, it tells the story of the Cold War like few other facilities can.

In fact, the Cosmosphere has the most extensive collection of Russian space artifacts outside Moscow. It even has a chunk of the Berlin Wall, which fell in December 1989, as a reminder of the Cold War's end.

Of course, most of the emphasis is on the U.S. space program, from its humble origins and early failures in the late 1950s to its successes of the late 1960s and beyond.

Among highlights at the Cosmosphere are the restored Apollo 13 command module Odyssey, with which moviegoers became familiar five years ago in the Tom Hanks' movie "Apollo 13"; the largest collection of space suits in the world; the flight jacket Chuck Yeager wore when he broke the sound barrier; an SR-71 Blackbird; German V-1 and V-2 rockets; and a full set of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft.

An amazing part of the Cosmosphere is that many restored spacecraft and artifacts were assembled piece-by-piece in a painstakingly tedious process, said my guide, Karen Siebert, who works as the Cosmosphere's marketing director.

Parts to a single spacecraft often were scattered around the nation --- and world. Cosmosphere officials had to track down the parts then put them together.

Take the Apollo 13 module Odyssey, for example. It took 12 years to find more than 80,000 pieces that were scattered around the world, from Florida to Texas to France. "It involved quite a bit of detective work just to find all of the command module," Siebert noted.

That detective work reached a new high last summer, when the Cosmosphere received international attention for its role with The Discovery Channel in finding the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft, which had rested more than three miles deep in the Atlantic Ocean since 1961.

The Liberty Bell 7 was the only unclaimed Mercury spacecraft out there, but because of its place on the ocean floor, it wasn't exactly available for the taking.

It took 21 years of planning and effort to finally retrieve it in July 1999, and it was the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary last winter.

I wanted to see the Liberty Bell 7, but found it had just left on a three-year state-of-the-art touring exhibition titled "Liberty Bell 7 Recovered," sponsored by The Discovery Channel. After the tour, it will return to the Cosmosphere for permanent display.

Even though Liberty Bell 7 has left, there remain plenty of things to see at the Cosmosphere, another one of those Kansas attractions that may be held in higher esteem among those living outside the state than by those who reside here.

The Cosmosphere also has popular education summer programs for youngsters. Five-day camping programs in the Future Astronaut Training Program teach middle schoolers about space and require kids to use science and math. The students learn teamwork and get to test high-tech simulators that give them an idea of what it feels like to be an astronaut.

I stuck my head in a classroom and found the students involved in a no-nonsense activity about space flight.

Each session of the 2000 Future Astronaut Training Program sold out this summer, which gives you an idea of its popularity.

There is also an Elderhostel program for older adults at the Cosmosphere which also sells out regularly. This year's Elderhostels will be Aug. 20 to 25, Sept. 24 to 29, Oct. 22 to 27 and Nov. 5 to 10. There is also a Jan. 21 to 26, 2001 session.

During the school year, the Cosmosphere serves as a half-day charter school for students in the Hutchinson area to learn about physics in a laboratory setting.

Beyond that, the Cosmosphere boasts one of the first IMAX theaters. Siebert said it is among the smallest IMAX theaters in the world, and the intimacy gives the viewer the sensation of really entering the action. I saw a film called "Dolphins," and while it had nothing to do with the space program, it made my trip to the Cosmosphere more enjoyable.

Besides the Cosmosphere, Hutchinson has other attractions, including the Kansas State Fair, which attracts tens of thousands of people here each September.

Next: a trip to an animal farm in nearby Nickerson and to an Amish community near Wichita.

--- Submitted

- Finding Kansas

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