USSRC getting ready for Star Wars exhibit to open

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Hotdog
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USSRC getting ready for Star Wars exhibit to open

Post by Hotdog »

The Rocket Center made the cover of the Huntsville Times today. Here is the article:

U.S Space & Rocket Center's 'Star Wars' exhibit marks significant change for 40-year-old museum

By Jon Busdeker, The Huntsville Times
May 09, 2010, 6:30AM

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Move over Neil Armstrong, and make way for Luke Skywalker, C.S. Lewis and a 42-foot long Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue.

Starting June 25, the U.S Space & Rocket Center will host “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination,” a traveling exhibition based on the George Lucas film series. For 10 weeks, costumes, props and hands-on exhibits from the “Star Wars” saga will take visitors on a trip to a “galaxy far, far away.”

read the rest here:
http://blog.al.com/entertainment-times/ ... useum.html
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Post by bnaivar »

Yeah, move over history, one side reality, make way for the cash cow. :x
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Post by Boomerang »

I saw your postings on facebook about these traveling exhibits and feel the need to say something. Let me start by aski g a couple of questions.
Do you want space camp t survive?
Do you want the space and rocket center to survive?

I assume the answer to both of these questions is yes and going on that assumption i make the following statement. i have worked in the museum business for 17 years. i have seen museums hit hard times before financialy but nothing like whats going on right now. The economy is forcing museums to close around the country right now. Museums have to find ways of getting people to return again and again. Adding news space exhibits is ideal es i agree however within a year they are the same old thing once people see them then thats it people lose intrest. Museums have to rotate in new stuff to keep the public intrest. i have worked for 4 museums in the last 17 years. They all made the realisation many years ago that traveling exhibits keep people coming back. Keeping the same exhibits on display does not. people lose intrest ad with the prices musem charge people will not keep paying to see the same old stuff again and again. Traveling exhibits bring in a lot of money for museums, momey they are in desperate need of. The economy has hit museums harder than most people realise. Will this be forever i doubt it. The space and rocket center has even said they will bring in other space exhibits to fill some of the space not used by travelin exhibits. This is the future this is the way museums survive if you want the museum and camp to survive this is the reality of it.
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Post by bnaivar »

No, I don't. Not if it's going to be a mockery to the people that have made manned space flight what it has become. To you, it's just another museum. To me, it's a memorial.
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Post by airkale »

Jason's right, if the museum could survive on the money's that space nuts like the three of us brought into the museum alone then they could keep the true museum like qualities the serious folks like us want However, this is obviously not the case, so this means they have to tailor the theme and content of the museum to the audience that is going to pay for its existance. Bottom line is, if you don't like the direction of museum exhibits, come up with a way to pay either more of your money or money that you can raise to the museum.

I would love to see the place as both a memorial as well as a place to capture the imagination of young people, many of whom aren't woo-ed by the space race era that we are interested in. Either we all need to get better paying jobs in order to funnel disposable income to the USSRC, or find someone really rich in order to brainwash into donating to the place!
Kale

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Post by ApolloXI »

I see special exhibits like the Star Wars as a good and bad thing at some museums. Places like the USSRC sometimes need traveling exhibits to survive especially in these hard economic times.

At some locations, traveling exhibits take up space where the permanent exhibits are which happens at the USSRC . The USSRC appears to not have been designed for self expansions. Do in fact of the rockets in the rocket park are in theory not supposed to move. Also there has never really been an area just for traveling exhibits. Plus the overall design and current features of the area prevent expansion on to the main building. So for the museum to survive, it sadly has to move objects that we care about out of the main building to storage for a short time.

Years ago Chicago's MSI used to have far wing to devoted to the digital world which include a small but big enough area where traveling exhibits could be held including a Star Trek traveling exhibit back in the early to mid 90s', which was later converted to a school group entrance. When the MSI added their 727 to the transportation hall, the hall on opposite side was used for rather big traveling exhibits like the current Titanic traveling exhibit, movie special effects including dinosaurs from Jurassic Park (which had the same IMAX film that the USSRC will be getting with Narnia), and etc. Now the large traveling exhibit area houses a new state of the art earth and physical science area, which I am guessing that they will not take down often for large traveling exhibits. From what I know of as last Dec. and Jan. the only current place at MSI is a small area that often houses smaller traveling exhibits such as White House model exhibit.

Many museums, like Chicago's Field Museum has learned that areas need to be set aside just for traveling exhibits. And normally as soon as on exhibit leaves another comes in. Or sometimes museums will house special in house exhibits between the major traveling exhibits. There are times when the traveling exhibit area houses minor exhibits that are meant to be moved in and out quickly.
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