The HabForum

So the latest buzz at the Rocket Center apparently is to devote the main floor of the old museum to a massive expansion of the Army and military exhibits. They will also be installing a new live spider monkey exhibit to the outside of the museum at the old entrance where Miss Baker is buried.

OK so first off, I thought the old museum floor was going to be where the shuttle exhibits would go? With the retirement of the shuttle program, we should be able to get tons of stuff. There is also stuff in storage too that we didn't have room for until the Davidson Center opened, so why don't we bring out that stuff? I think the portion of the Space & Rocket Center that is devoted to Army and military is big enough already. Am I alone in thinking they are going overboard with this? Please tell me this is just a temporary way to fill space until a better plan can be implemented!!

Second, what is up with bringing back the monkeys? When did we last send spider monkeys into space, wasn't it in the '80s on some of the early shuttle flights? None of those monkeys are still living. Clue me in on the significance of this and convince me this isn't just a cheap stunt to get kids attention.

Here's the link to the story on Wes's blog http://www.sprocketeers.org/2011/05/11/ ... the-movie/

Also, I'm happy to relay that a request was made to get $3million for ADA approved buses for the Marshall tours. This will be good news for Boomerang!

My understanding is that the shuttle exhibit area will remain in one of the upper areas above the atrium. When I casually inquired about how do people that are not able to climb stairs are to see the exhibit there was reference to a gallery book.

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Technically the old building does not fall under the ADA guidelines due to a grandfather clause but If you are going to spend money on using that space for exhibits why don't you make it accessible to all. A book is no exhibit.
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One other item that I didn't make clear is that the monkeys will be indoors in the area between the gift shop and IMAX entrance hallway. If you were an employee there I think this is the timeclock area.

It doesn't make sense to have the military stuff showcased front-and-center while stashing the Shuttle stuff in the often-overlooked upper chasms of the museum.

As far as the location of the monkey exhibit, I was going by the drawings. I could have swore that one drawing of the old entrance showed an exterior plexiglass monkey habitat.

Yep look at that drawing again and imagine you were standing in the gift shop looking down towards the main lobby. The windows you see to the left are the old guest services office.

The idea seems to be to turn the older building into a defense & energy display area and most of the space exhibits would be in the Davidson Center which is supposed to be the main entrance.

1. Monkeys don't belong in cages. They belong in the wild or wildlife preserves; not in museums. *sigh* When will people learn this?

2. Use the monkey money to make the upstairs where the additional shuttle exhibit will be more accessible - a lift that is mounted to the wall, folds down, and slides up the stairs. Then everyone can see the shuttle exhibit. Book schmook... I can get those from the library and read at home.

Okay, there's my highly opinionated entry for the day.

Hotdog - I'm in one of the meetings now and it sounds like they actually want to also focus some living and working in space exhibits near the SC training area down the road as well. I'll go back and edit my reports later. With every meeting there are more details.

Though i agree 100% that they need to make the shuttle exhibhit accessable i for ojne have never seenm it and two noone tells anyone about the exhibit book i worked there for a summer and never heard of it.

However the way to display the army artifacts has been a bone of contention for many years. In 1998 there were actually plans to seperate Army and NASA artifacts into two seperate museums. These plans fell through with the later financial problems caused by a former CEO. Lets keep in mind without the Army turning the nearly defunct Redstone arsenal into a rocket testing center and home to the Von Braun team then Marshall would not exist in Huntsville and who knows what would have become of the Watercest capital of the US. That being said the Army played a big part in rocket development a decade or more before NASA existed. NASA inherited much of that research and the facilities. I have always felt the Army needed more of a display in the space and rocket center because most people don't realise their contributions they think its been NASA all along. Lets not forget Explkorer 1 was launched on an Army Rocket so were Able and Baker and even the Saturn 1 started as an Army project.

I thought the ploy to stage an Army recruitment exhibit was lame to begin with.... Showcase the Army's contributions to technology and the space program, okay, but anything more is just awkward.

I think it is fair to point out, that the military exhibits are both interesting and inspiring to many of the Aviation Challenge Trainees whom go through the program. Even the exhibits that are not directly related to the space program itself.

While I agree the Army exhibits should not be the vocal point, Redstone and the Army's relationship with the USSRC more then justify an exhibit of this kind.

You know it sure would be nice to get the Skylab trainer back in the old museum floor where it belongs. How much money do they still need?

Monkeys are off for now.

Looking more and more like a European firm is going to re-do Skylab for use in Europe and then move it back to the center at a later time. Hate to pay the shipping cost for that.

Shipping isn't a problem. They can just use the fix it up donations to pay UPS. I wonder if brown can handle that?

All joking aside, I sure hope it doesn't leave the US.