The Vision for Space Exploration includes returning the Space Shuttle safely to flight, completing the International Space Station, developing and testing a new exploration vehicle, and embarking on extended human missions to the Moon. NASA will return to the Moon as a first step to preparing for further exploration in the Solar System and demonstrating our ability to live and work on another world.
"Space Station Imagination" is comprised of two 48-foot trailers linked to form two modules of the Space Station: the Habitation Module, or living quarters, where the astronauts sleep, eat and tend to personal hygiene, and the Laboratory Module where multiple microgravity experiments are performed. Visitors can see examples of features of the habitation and laboratory modules.
The Station is a critical steppingstone for the Vision for Space Exploration. NASA's research efforts on orbit focus on the effects of microgravity on the human body. This will help us learn how to prepare astronauts and spacecraft for long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Animatronics "astronaut" Dr. Emily greets visitors as she awakens to start her day onboard this international orbiting laboratory. Displays show how a space toilet and shower work like vacuum cleaners with very little gravity, as well as how astronauts eat and sleep aboard the Station. A centrifuge displays how scientists might study the effects of varying levels of gravity on plants, animals and materials.
Using actual footage from the Station, three short video presentations entertain and inform viewers with the story of human space exploration and the International Space Station program. The complete tour of the exhibit takes about 20 minutes.
The exhibit is accessible to people with disabilities. Tours of the exhibit are included with admission to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
For more information on the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, call (321) 449-4444 or visit:
http://www.KennedySpaceCenter.com
For more information on the Space Station Imagination exhibit visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/programs/exhibits/trailers/index.html
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