NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Make sure to check out the NASA Ames events page to find out any events that might be happening at the exploration center.

The NASA Ames Exploration Center, where visitors can experience NASA technology and missions first hand, recently added a number of fresh and exciting exhibits open to the public at no charge. Located at the main gate to NASA Ames at Moffett Field just off US 101, the NASA Exploration Center has welcomed more than 150,000 visitors in its first year and has inspired tens of thousands of schoolchildren to become the next generation of space explorers. The facility is open to the public FREE of charge.

The facility boasts the largest Immersive Theater on the West Coast. The theater presents panoramic views of Mars and Saturn's rings as well as other eye-popping movies and special effects on a curved 40 foot wide screen. Content includes a true-color panorama taken by the rover Spirit of the "Cahokia" site on the Columbia Hills and images taken by the Cassini mission of Saturn can be viewed on the large screen. Some of the alien images are seen at twice the resolution of high definition television.

School and other groups are welcome, but please call in advance of your visit if you plan to bring a group of more than 20 and to ensure the most current information to allow us to provide a better visitor experience. The NASA Exploration Center is FREE and open to the public.

There is a gift shop outside the NASA Exploration Center that sells NASA and space related clothing, patches, posters, videos and more. All purchases at the gift shop, operated by the nonprofit Ames employee association, are tax-exempt.

CURRENT EXHIBITS

Image left: Children viewing the Edgarville Interactive Display.









Edgarville Airport - The "Edgarville" interactive display allows users to manage air traffic at a fictional airport. Developed by NASA's Airspace Systems Program, Edgarville Airport-Take Off to the Future of Air Travel, is a three-dimensional, interactive immersive environment with animated characters to guide guests through a virtual airport. Employing real air traffic controllers to explain how air traffic is managed, Edgarville Airport shows how the National Airspace System (NAS) operates.

Mars Terrain Globe - A topographical globe of the red planet's landscape enables guests to see and touch Mars' geological formations, which have intrigued scientists on Earth for centuries. Olympus Mons (nearly three times taller than Mount Everest and covers an area the size of the state of Arizona), the solar system's largest volcano can be seen as well as Valles Marineris, a canyon system that extends 2,500 miles and is up to six miles deep.

Mercury Redstone 1A (MR-1A) - This capsule was launched on December 19, 1960, and attained an altitude of 130.7 statute miles. MR-1A was the last unmanned test flight before the Mercury 7 astronauts took flight. Five months after MR-1A flew, on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to fly in space aboard Friendship 7, a Mercury capsule nearly identical to MR-1A. MR-1A has a cracked porthole that occurred when the craft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Moon Rock - On display in the Exploration Center is a lunar sample retrieved by the crew of Apollo 15 from the Moon's Hadley-Apennine region. This sample is part of the 169 pounds retrieved from the lunar surface during the crew's 66.9 hour stay on the Moon. In addition, meteorite and other geological samples are on display.

Immersive Theater - In conjunction with SGI, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., the NASA Exploration Center features a high-resolution Immersive Theater with a 14-foot tall and 36-foot wide screen. Interactive models and high-definition videos show in detail the Mars mission, fly-overs of the Martian surface, and the science contributions of scientists at NASA Ames Research Center.