HUNTSVILLE — The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Southeast and the iconic Saturn V tower is a landmark along I-565.
The museum and Space Camp have been evolving over the years as has the United States space program.
Dr. Kimberly Robinson has been guiding the ever-changing landscape – literally and figuratively – at the Space & Rocket Center since 2021. With her NASA and Marshall Space Flight Center background, she turned the facility around after the crippling effects the COVID pandemic had on it financially.
To quote a famous space ranger, the center’s future is on a trajectory “to infinity and beyond.”
Dr. Robinson discussed the center’s outlook recently in response to five questions from 256 Today.
1). It’s been four years, how has the Space & Rocket Center rebounded from the pandemic? Attendance, donations/sponsors, Space Camp.
We have had a resounding rebound! Thanks to the support of so many individual donors, companies along with local, state, and national leaders, the Rocket Center is on solid ground today and building for the future. Our Space Camp attendance is back to pre-COVID numbers, and we have almost 1,000 happy campers from all over the world attending each week this summer. We are also back to the staffing levels we saw pre-pandemic, and it has been especially gratifying to be able to rehire many of our valued team members.
2). With companies launching their own rockets/spacecraft, is the Space & Rocket Center going to continue a primary focus on NASA or will there be a balance on the space exploration story with the private launches?
We are the official visitor center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and will proudly continue to share the work being done by our partners there. We are also embracing today’s space renaissance’s innovations and exciting missions coming from many sectors. We want our visitors to understand this amazing work underway from our commercial companies and for our Space Camp kids to imagine the myriad options they have for their future.
An example of this is an ever-changing exhibit called “Dare to Explore: Frontiers in Space” that highlights what space industry companies are doing today and are planning to do. Right now, we have a Blue Origin BE-3U engine on display, and we encourage everyone to come see one of the engines Blue Origin is testing right now at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Historic Test Stand 4670. We also have a SpaceX flight suit worn in space by astronaut and former Space Camp counselor Chris Sembroski, and many other examples of work being done right here in our community and beyond.
3). What are some of the challenges facing the Space & Rocket Center? How do you plan to answer them?
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center opened 54 years ago, so our aging infrastructure is without a doubt our biggest challenge. We are working hard to make improvements to all areas of our vast campus, but the hardest part is getting things done at a pace that satisfies us. We want it done now, but our projects are big and expensive. Having the support of our community, corporate partners and city, state and regional leaders is critical as we continue to improve this world-class facility.
4). Space Camp has graduated more than 1 million students. There are also Aviation Challenge, Space Camp Robotics and the Cyber Academy. With a goal to get kids excited about STEM, what’s next? AI Camp?
We will soon break ground on our Inspiration4 Skills Training Complex, which will bring our Space Camp and Aviation Challenge camp simulators together in a state-of-the-art facility. We’re able to embark on this project because of the generosity of Jared Isaacman, who attended Aviation Challenge as a child and is now a successful entrepreneur and private aviator. In 2021, he commanded Inspiration4, the first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth. He will soon return to space with the Polaris Dawn mission and plans to make the first civilian spacewalk during that mission.
Our Space Camp Operations Center opened in May 2023, which has been a game changer for our programs by expanding and improving our classrooms as well as providing a permanent location for U.S. Cyber Camp. I like to describe the Skills Training Complex as a partner to the Operations Center, the other half of the equation so to speak. Just as the Operations Center has provided an incredible learning space for our campers, the Skills Training Complex will be a game changer for our hands-on activities. We’re adding new missions, an indoor ropes course, night vision training and a skydiving simulator that will allow us to expand the availability of Aviation Challenge beyond the summer months.
5). Two popular attractions are returning – Pathfinder and Rocket Park. How is the progress going with them? What else is on the horizon for the Space & Rocket Center?
We held a ribbon cutting for Rocket Row in mid-July to feature the five historic rockets that were in we have refurbished and remounted. They are in a new configuration that leads to an exciting addition to our park, the engine section of the SLS core stage Pathfinder. This section not only showcases current technology but pays tribute to the propulsion expertise of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. This has been a huge project, but the result is something we hope our whole community will feel proud of when they see it.
Rocket Park will also include the Space Exploration Wall of Honor with the names of almost 22,000 people who have contributed to space exploration in this community. The Marshall Retirees Association championed this project, raising the funds and awareness for this important addition to the park.
We’ve also been forging ahead with the space shuttle Pathfinder project. We stripped the orbiter down to its metal frame and crews have been rebuilding the exterior from more than 500 3-D printed panels. Within a few weeks we’ll lift it back on the full shuttle stack, completing the return of the Rocket City’s Spaceline.
We continue to make improvements to the entire campus. Not only are we refreshing existing exhibits, but we have a vision that will take the Rocket Center into the next 50-plus years of telling the Rocket City’s story of space exploration.
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