The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is celebrating 47 years of educating America and the world about NASA and the U.S. Space program. The Center opened March 17, 1970, as the Alabama Space & Rocket Center and has had 18 million visitors since that time. The No. 1 tourist attraction in the state, the Center has over 650,000 visitors each year.
Dr. Wernher von Braun, then director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, approached the Alabama legislature about creating a museum jointly with the Army Missile Command and NASA. In 1968, the state's citizens voted to finance construction of the Center.
The museum houses the National Historic Landmark Saturn V Moon Rocket, the Apollo 16 Command Module and the Pathfinder space shuttle display. There are more than 10,000 artifacts in it's collection with over 1000 items displayed including 27 missiles and rockets. The center is also a Smithsonian Affiliate Museum and is the Official Visitor Center for Marshall Space Flight Center.
In 1982, the Center launched its Space Camp program, which has more than 750,000 alumni from around the world, including five astronauts. Aviation Challenge Camp with its leadership and fighter-pilot training opened in 1990, and Space Camp Robotics began in 2013.
Here is a timeline of significant events for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
1950 - Dr. Wernher von Braun and the German rocket team arrive in Huntsville from El Paso, Texas
1958 - Walter Linde, chairman of the Space Museum Committee for the Chamber of Commerce, sends a letter to then Mayor R. B. Searcy and a proposal to the Huntsville City Council suggesting a space museum in Huntsville could attract at least half a million visitors a year.
Nov. 30, 1965 - Von Braun, understanding the role of football in Alabama, persuaded rival Alabama and Auburn coaches Bear Bryant and Shug Jordan to appear in a television commercial supporting a $1.9 million statewide bond referendum to finance museum construction. The referendum passed and the Army's Redstone Arsenal donated land for the Space Science Exhibit Center.
July 31, 1968 - The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Alabama Space Science Center takes place.
June 28, 1969 - The Saturn V dynamic test vehicle now on display in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration was delivered to the center along with the Saturn 1 on display in Rocket Park.
March 17, 1970 - The Alabama Space & Rocket Center opens
1971 - Monkeynaut Baker becomes a permanent resident of the Center until her death in 1984.
1977 - The Center's Saturn V is nominated to become a national historic landmark.
1982 - Space Camp program opens
1984 - The SpaceDome IMAX(r) theater opened
1986 - "Space Camp" the movie opened in theaters.
1987 - Space Camp training center and the Underwater Astronaut Trainer open.
1989 - Space Shuttle Pathfinder stack display completed in Shuttle Park
1990 - Aviation Challenge camp opens
1991 - A-12 Oxcart reconnaissance aircraft goes on display at the Rocket Center
April 1994 - NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race began taking place on the ground of the Rocket Center. Today, the engineering event is geared toward Mars and future exploration and is called the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge. This year's event takes place March 31 and April 1.
1996 - Space Shot opens
1999 - The Space Center records its 10-millionth visitor and the vertical Saturn V replica was erected.
2005 - Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger becomes the first Space Camp graduate to be named to the NASA Astronaut Corps
Jan. 31, 2008 - The Davidson Center for Space Exploration opened, housing the Saturn V, the Apollo 16 capsule and a moon rock among other exhibits
2011 - Space Camp added an Orion simulator the Space Camp training center
2013 - The Skylab engineering trainer restored and moved inside the Davidson Center.
2013 - Space Camp Robotics opened
2014 - NASA T-38 supersonic jet mounted in Shuttle Park.
2015 - The F-16 Fighting Falcon at Aviation Challenge was dedicated in Red Tail livery in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen.
2016 - ISS: Science on Orbit, showing visitors how astronauts live and work aboard the International Space Station, opens
2017 - Shuttle Training Aircraft added to Shuttle Park