That's a nice third-party endorsement. The museum's first permanent planetarium was built in 1962 by Patricia Brooks Carey, who was inspired to look to the heavens after Russia's successful launch of the satellite Sputnik. The planetarium was connected to the Hutchinson Community College, marking the beginning of an important and long-standing relationship between the museum and the college. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. Immediately upon entering the museum, Cosmosphere visitors see something that can be viewed in only a few locations in the world.
Astronauts use the fast two-seater to keep up on their flying skills.
It also allows them to zip around the country on tight schedules. The suits worn by the mannequins inside the T-38 were worn by Kansas astronauts Joe Engle and Steve Hawley. Next to both planes is a full-size replica of the space shuttle Endeavor. The sides are covered with a lightweight, flame-retardant, quilted material. But the real focus of the Cosmosphere is the Hall of Space Museum, which houses one of the world's largest international space artifact collections.