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Sundays in Space: Check out Mississippi’s own NASA museum, INFINITY Science Center

Mary Apel

 

If you’re looking for a neat place to visit in Mississippi, INFINITY Science Center is one of the newest – and most fun – destinations for STEM learning in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region.

INFINITY is a non-profit organization and serves as the official visitor center for NASA’s Stennis Space Center and its resident labs and offices. Each of the 30+ federal and state agencies, universities and industries at Stennis falls into either an Earth or Space science category.

Few people realize that the entire northern Gulf Coast is rich in leading edge, world-class space, military, oceans and weather research, plus ship building, chemical manufacturing, engineering support, petroleum and high tech operations. It’s INFINITY’s vision to be the focal point for Earth and Space Sciences education and dialogue along the Gulf Coast.

Visitors to the 35,000-square-foot science center enter a world where discovery truly is endless. The fun begins with outdoor exhibits such as a tsunami buoy, a U.S. Navy riverine training boat, and the colossal Apollo Saturn V first stage.

the first of the three stages of a Saturn V rocket, housed at INFINITY Science Center

Just inside the front entrance in the Natrium, check out the Engineering Workshop where you can design and build your own inventions, or learn about more than 200 species of carnivorous plants in the Carnivorous Plants Conservatory.

Experience LIVE presentations ranging from animal adaptations to future exploration of Mars in our X-SPHERE-ience Theater.

In the Earth and Space Galleries, you’ll find simulators and artifacts, video theaters, Smithsonian-loaned artifacts, and a life-sized, walk-through mockup of the International Space Station’s Destiny module.

INFINITY’s Space Gallery offer glimpses into space suit technology, new space rockets, and more. The gallery features pre-Apollo history and a progression of NASA programs from Apollo and Gemini to International Space Station and the new SLS program, designed to take the first humans to Mars.

INFINITY’s largest space exhibit, the Apollo 19 Saturn V first stage, which is viewable from the Space Gallery, was originally slated for the cancelled Apollo 19 mission. See INFINITY’s newest indoor space exhibit, the Apollo 4 command module that was launched as part of the first “all-up” test of the Saturn V rocket!

INFINITY’s 3D Immersive Theater boasts a state-of-the-art laser 3D projection system and surround sound audio to take the movie experience to the next level. Enjoy award-winning content from the world’s top providers, including Giant Screen Films, BBC Earth, K2 Communications, National Geographic, Cosmic Pictures, and more. Watch the trailer here:

Journey to Space – Trailer from Giant Screen Films on Vimeo.

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