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24-521: The Columbia Memorial Space Center (CMSC) is a science museum in the Los Angeles area , in 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. The center's stated mission is to "ignite people's passion in science, technology, engineering, and space while honoring Downey's aerospace history." The site of

48-963: A planetarium . The Science Centre was an exploratorium-style museum included as a small part of the complex. This combination of interactive science museum, planetarium and Omnimax theater pioneered a configuration that many major science museums now follow. Also in 1973, the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) was founded as an international organisation to provide a collective voice, professional support, and programming opportunities for science centres, museums and related institutions. The massive Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry) opened in Paris in 1986, and national centres soon followed in Denmark (Experimentarium), Sweden ( Tom Tits Experiment ), Finland ( Heureka ), and Spain ( Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe ). In

72-461: A hands-on approach, featuring interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to experiment and explore. Recently, there has been a push for science museums to be more involved in science communication and educating the public about the scientific process. Microbiologist and science communicator Natalia Pasternak Taschner stated, "I believe that science museums can promote critical thinking, especially in teenagers and young adults, by teaching them about

96-854: A product of the 1960s and later. In the United Kingdom , many were founded as Millennium projects , with funding from the National Lotteries Fund . The first 'science centre' in the United States was the Science Center of Pinellas County, founded in 1959. The Pacific Science Center (one of the first large organisations to call itself a 'science centre' rather than a museum), opened in a Seattle World's Fair building in 1962. In 1969, Oppenheimer 's Exploratorium opened in San Francisco , California , and

120-680: A variety of camps, workshops, and other monthly events to generate interest in STEM , and hands-on exhibits. Now 20,000 square feet, the two-story building has a robotics lab, HD computer lab, and a wide range of interactive exhibits on Space Shuttle operations, living and working on the International Space Station , exploration of the Solar System , aerospace engineering , and the range of fields of study and jobs related to human and robotic space exploration . In 2012,

144-794: Is Ecsite , and in the United Kingdom, the Association of Science and Discovery Centres represents the interests of over 60 major science engagement organisations. The Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres (ASPAC) is an association initiated in 1997 with over 50 members from 20 countries across Asia and Australia (2022). Their regional sister organisations are the Network for the Popularization of Science and Technology in Latin America and The Caribbean (RedPOP),

168-836: Is a natural history museum in Madrid , Spain. Dependent on the Ministry of Science , it is one of the National Museums of Spain, and it is managed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The museum traces back its origin to the Real Gabinete de Historia Natural  [ es ] , created in 1771 by Charles III . The gabinete was refounded as Real Museo de Historia Natural in 1815. It changed names until its current denomination, received in 1913. The museum originally hosted

192-704: The Museum of Science ) which opened in Boston in 1864. Another was the Academy of Science, St. Louis , founded in 1856, the first scientific organisation west of the Mississippi. (Although the organisation managed scientific collections for several decades, a formal museum was not created until the mid-20th century.) The modern interactive science museum appears to have been pioneered by Munich's Deutsches Museum (German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology) in

216-550: The 18,000 square foot project. 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. Designated a Challenger Learning Center , the museum has

240-455: The City of Downey. The center also owns Apollo Boilerplate BP-19A, which is in storage as of 2018. Science museum While the mission statements of science centres and modern museums may vary, they are commonly places that make science accessible and encourage the excitement of discovery. The public museum as understood today is a collection of specimens and other objects of interest to

264-891: The North Africa and Middle East science centres (NAMES), and the Southern African Association of Science and Technology Centres (SAASTEC). In India, the National Council of Science Museums runs science centres at several places including Delhi , Bhopal , Nagpur and Ranchi . There are also a number of private Science Centres, including the Birla Science Museum and The Science Garage in Hyderabad. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales The National Museum of Natural Sciences ( Spanish : Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales )

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288-942: The Ontario Science Centre opened near Toronto , Ontario , Canada. By the early 1970s, COSI Columbus , then known as the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio , had run its first 'camp-in'. In 1983, the Smithsonian Institution invited visitors to the Discovery Room in the newly opened National Museum of Natural History Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland , where they could touch and handle formerly off-limits specimens. The new-style museums banded together for mutual support. In 1971, 16 museum directors gathered to discuss

312-639: The United Kingdom, the first interactive centres also opened in 1986 on a modest scale, with further developments more than a decade later, funded by the National Lottery for projects to celebrate the Millennium . Since the 1990s, science museums and centres have been created or greatly expanded in Asia. Examples are Thailand 's National Science Museum and Japan 's Minato Science Museum . Museums that brand themselves as science centres emphasise

336-491: The early 20th century. This museum had moving exhibits where visitors were encouraged to push buttons and work levers. The concept was taken to the United States by Julius Rosenwald , chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company , who visited the Deutsches Museum with his young son in 1911. He was so captivated by the experience that he decided to build a similar museum in his home town. The Ampère Museum , close to Lyon,

360-662: The experience by publishing 'Cookbooks' that explain how to construct versions of the Exploratorium's exhibits. The Ontario Science Centre , which opened in September 1969, continued the trend of featuring interactive exhibits rather than static displays. In 1973, the first Omnimax cinema opened at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park. The tilted-dome Space Theater doubled as

384-406: 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

408-611: The museum is the former Boeing / Rockwell / North American plant where all of the Apollo Command/Service Modules were built and the Space Shuttle 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

432-568: The museum works closely with the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas). The Utrecht University Museum, established in 1836, and the Netherlands' foremost research museum, displays an extensive collection of 18th-century animal and human "rarities" in its original setting. More science museums developed during the Industrial Revolution , when great national exhibitions showcased

456-544: The possibility of starting a new association; one more specifically tailored to their needs than the existing American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums ). As a result of this, the Association of Science-Technology Centers was formally established in 1973, headquartered in Washington DC, but with an international organisational membership. The corresponding European organisation

480-653: The predecessors of modern natural history museums. In 1683, the first purpose-built museum covering natural philosophy , the original Ashmolean museum (now called the Museum of the History of Science) in Oxford , England, was opened, although its scope was mixed. This was followed in 1752 by the first dedicated science museum, the Museo de Ciencias Naturales , in Madrid , which almost did not survive Francoist Spain . Today,

504-750: The scholar, the man of science as well as the more casual visitor, arranged and displayed in accordance with the scientific method. In its original sense, the term 'museum' meant a spot dedicated to the muses - 'a place where man's mind could attain a mood of aloofness above everyday affairs'. Museum of Jurassic Technology , Introduction & Background, p. 2. As early as the Renaissance period, aristocrats collected curiosities for display. Universities, and in particular medical schools , also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Scientists and collectors displayed their finds in private cabinets of curiosities . Such collections were

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528-618: The scientific method and the process of science, and how by using this to develop knowledge and technology, we can be less wrong." Urania was a science centre founded in Berlin in 1888. Most of its exhibits were destroyed during World War II, as were those of a range of German technical museums. The Academy of Science of Saint Louis (founded in 1856) created the Saint Louis Museum of Science and Natural History in 1959 ( Saint Louis Science Center ), but generally science centres are

552-636: The triumphs of both science and industry. An example is the Great Exhibition in 1851 at The Crystal Palace , London, England, surplus items from which contributed to the Science Museum, London , founded in 1857. In the United States of America, various natural history Societies established collections in the early 19th century. These later evolved into museums. A notable example is the New England Museum of Natural History (now

576-768: Was created in 1931 and is the first interactive scientific museum in France. Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry opened in phases between 1933 and 1940. In 1959, the Museum of Science and Natural History (now the Saint Louis Science Center ) was formally created by the Academy of Science of Saint Louis, featuring many interactive science and history exhibits, and in August 1969, Frank Oppenheimer dedicated his new Exploratorium in San Francisco almost completely to interactive science exhibits, building on

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