Ask my nephew Daniel what he wants to be when he gets older and the answer is astronaut. My husband and I recently took him to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland., which features the NASA Glenn Visitor Center. The displays are interactive and he was able to "try" on a space suit.
Future Astronaut
I just read about Chemical Heritage Foundation's (CHF) display Suited for Space, a traveling exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and supported by DuPont. I hope this traveling show will make its way to Ohio so Daniel can channel his inner Buzz Aldrin and check out the exhibition's large-scale photographs of suits worn by astronauts from Project Mercury through the Skylab program. Currently, Suited for Space is part of an 11-city national tour and the Buckeye state isn't on the list. But a girl can hope.“The history of space exploration is, in part, a history of innovation in matter and materials,” says Carsten Reinhardt, CHF president and CEO. “This exhibition shows the critical role of materials science in the American space program. These suits kept the astronauts safe in the extreme conditions of space travel.”While the fragility of these suits prevents them from traveling, the exhibition will feature a replica Apollo spacesuit on loan from NASA and 10 objects from the National Air and Space Museum’s collection, including a glove, a boot, and helmets. You can learn more from the website or the Facebook page.Traci Purdum, senior digital editor for Chemical Processing and aunt to a future astronaut. You can email me at [email protected].