‘Space Adventure’ exhibition brings NASA artifacts, Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke to Miami

A massive traveling space exhibition is making its U.S. debut this spring, and it’s bringing more than 300 NASA artifacts from its earliest missions with it.

By Chelsea Zukowski

Space Adventure arrives April 7 at Maurice A. Ferré Park in Miami. According to its website, Space Adventure will be open on select dates through May 31. The entire exhibition will be housed in a 30,000-square-foot structure created just for the event.

And to celebrate the opening, Space Adventure will host Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke, who became the 10th person to walk on the moon 50 years ago. Duke was key to communicating with the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 and was later the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 16 mission in 1971. During that mission, he spent about 20 hours on the moon collecting lunar rock and doing experiments.

Space Adventure is billed as journey through humanity’s history in space and its missions to the moon, specifically NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. The immersive and interactive exhibit includes displays of artifacts never displayed to the public.

Some of these artifacts include computers used at NASA in its earliest years, 1960s technology used to facilitate communication between spacecraft and Earth, early astronaut suits, cameras used to photograph some of the most iconic images of the moon, an Apollo mission food menu and astronauts’ personal items developed for use in space.

Space Adventure is divided into rooms that replicate a journey from the Earth to the moon. The first stage is a 180-degree immersive welcome video to transport guests to the early days of space and lunar exploration. Then, they’ll walk into the main room packed with hundreds of space age artifacts.

In the “Control Room,” there are restored consoles and computers from NASA’s Mission Control center. The next room is guests’ “Departure to the Moon” followed by the “Arrival on the Moon.”

Besides the artifacts, the rooms will have life-sized replicas of Apollo-era command and lunar modules and scale replicas of the massive Saturn V rocket that launched astronauts to the moon more than 50 years ago.

Space Adventure also uses images, films and virtual reality experiences to showcase the early space and lunar programs as well as other content related to space exploration over the decades.

Starting April 7, Space Adventure will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Tickets are $34.99 for adults, $24.99 for children and $93.99 for VIP access. After its Miami stop, Space Adventure will tour other locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Tickets, tour dates and more information can be found at SpaceAdventure.us.

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