The Columbia Memorial Space Center (CMSC) is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

in the

Los Angeles area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

, at 12400 Columbia Way, City of Downey, California, US. It is owned and operated by Downey, and open to the general public as a hands-on space museum and activity center.

Mission

The center's stated mission is to "ignite people's passion in science, technology, engineering, and space while honoring Downey's aerospace history."

History

The site of the museum is the former

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

/ Rockwell/

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

plant where all of the

Apollo Command/Service Module The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo spacecraft, used for the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functioned as a mother ship ...

s were built and the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

was conceived. In 1999, when the Downey Plant closed, the City of Downey began a redevelopment effort, including an educational component. In early 2007, a builder — Tower General Contractors — was selected, and ground was broken on April 12, 2007, on the 18,000 square foot project. STS-107 Flight Insignia

First opened in 2008, CMSC is recognized as the National Memorial to the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' and its crew that was lost on STS-107. On November 7, 2008, a propane tank exploded during the filming of an episode of the television series '' Bones'', causing an electrical fire, without damage to the museum.

Exhibits

Designated a

Challenger Learning Center Challenger Center for Space Science Education is a United States 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster on ...

, the museum has a variety of camps, workshops, and other monthly events to generate interest in

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

, and hands-on exhibits. Now 20,000 square feet, the two-story building has a

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

lab, HD computer lab, and a wide range of interactive exhibits on

space shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

operations, living and working on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

, exploration of the

solar system The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, and the range of fields of study and jobs related to

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

and robotic

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...

. In 2012, the first "Space Shuttle" – a wood and plastic full-scale mockup built by North American Rockwell in 1972 – was placed on temporary display at the center. Dubbed the " Space Shuttle ''Inspiration''", it was disassembled and stored in early 2014. In front of the center, a dummy " boilerplate" Apollo command capsule, BP-12, is on display. This was the first Apollo capsule to fly, and is now owned by the City of Downey. The center also owns Apollo Boilerplate BP-19A, which was is in storage as of 2018.

References

External links

Columbia Memorial Space Center official website

The Columbia Memorial Space Center
s channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{authority control Museums in Los Angeles County, California Downey, California Aerospace museums in California History museums in California Science museums in California Science centers Space Shuttle tourist attractions Science and technology in Greater Los Angeles Association of Science-Technology Centers member institutions Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Smithsonian Institution affiliates Museums established in 2008 2008 establishments in California Expressionist architecture Postmodern architecture in California