Just as astronauts brave the challenges of Space, we will be facing the challenges presented by COVID-19.
Click here to review all our new measures and procedures to keep staff and visitors healthy. Have questions about Space Camp? Click here for more information on available camp programs, cancellations, refunds, re-scheduling, and activities impacted by COVID-19.

About Us

Main Exhibit Area

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center regularly features traveling exhibits from around the world. Click here to learn about our current exhibit and see what’s coming soon!

Learn about the development of the space shuttle program, examine military hardware in our Team Redstone exhibit, challenge yourself on our Mars Climbing Wall, race against the clock on the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge course, experience a motion-based flight simulation on board HyperShip, and experience the Red Planet in our Mars Play Station. Also attend a presentation in our model of NASA’s Payload Operations Integration Center and tour through two International Space Station modules as a part of the "ISS: Science on Orbit" exhibit. Enjoy The Live Science interactive presentations that introduce scientific principles, historic information and astronomical facts in 15-minute demonstrations.

Finally, enjoy immersive astronomy shows, live entertainment and exciting theater experiences in the state-of-the-art INTUITIVE® Planetarium.

Be sure to catch our bus tour of Redstone Arsenal, headquarters to the Army Materiel Command and home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Click here for more information about available tours at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center or click here for a complete listing of all our available movies and shows.

Saturn V Hall at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) is a Smithsonian Affiliate and the Official Visitor Center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. We have one of the largest collections of rockets and space memorabilia on display anywhere in the world.

Experience the mesmerizing view of a National Historic Landmark – an authentic Saturn V rocket – one of only three in the world, located in the Saturn V Hall of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration.

Our guests journey through America’s Space Race and NASA’s plan to put man on the moon and the International Space Station, and get a glimpse of the future in commercial space ventures and the latest technological innovations. Future astronauts explore the Martian surface at KidSpace, plus experience the power of the first test firing of the five F-1 Saturn V engines and the importance behind their testing at Marshall Space Flight Center in "The Force."

Also enjoy daily films in the 52-foot, high-definition screen in the National Geographic Theater.

Click here for more information about available tours at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center or click here for a complete listing of all our available movies and shows.

Rocket Park

In the park, guests can experience 3Gs of centrifugal force aboard G-Force Accelerator, experience 3 Gs of liftoff and simulated microgravity on Moon Shot, see a Boeing CH-47D Chinook and other military hardware, as well as view a mock up of the Apollo 11 landing site including a model of the lunar lander and planted American flag on the cratered surface.

Young astronauts are able to crawl around in the International Space Station (ISS) or buckle up and blast off – gently – to the moon on our Lunar Lander simulator at Kids Cosmos Energy Depletion Zone

Donate

The First meets the Future every day at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Here, students feel the spirit of early space pioneers through the towering rockets and hardware gracing Rocket Park, Shuttle Park and the Apollo Courtyard. Exposure to the elements has taken a toll on these marvels of engineering but you can restore their shine and ensure they continue to inspire the next generation of dreamers and doers. Your donation makes a difference and identifies you as a member of the Rocket Protector team.

To ensure the Center’s rockets are standing tall in the decades to come, we have begun a project to preserve the outdoor artifacts.

Your donation of any amount will make a difference.

Shuttle Park

Explore the most complete chronology of launch vehicles in the country, including the world’s only fully-stacked Space Transportation System (STS) that includes two solid rocket boosters, genuine space shuttle main engine nozzles and a genuine external tank. The Pathfinder orbiter is on display in Shuttle Park and is flanked by a T-38, a twin-engine supersonic jet used in astronaut training, and the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA), the only one of NASA’s four modified Gulfstream II aircraft on display anywhere in the world.

Brick Locator

Visit the commemorative bricks in the Apollo Courtyard that surround the vertical Saturn V replica outside the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. Alumni and supporters of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center have given tribute to honor the innovative engineers and scientists who took us to the moon. If you have purchased a brick, click here to find its location.

Featured Exhibits

Apollo: When We Went to the Moon

Included with museum general admission

‘Apollo: When We Went to the Moon,’ chronicles the timeline from the beginning of the Space Race – a time when the U.S. and Soviet Union competed over their accomplishments in space exploration – to the collaborative culture of the International Space Station program and beyond. Open now through December, 2019

Click here to learn more »

History and Overview

Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket scientists transformed Huntsville, Alabama, known in the 1950s as the “Watercress Capital of the World,” into a technology center that today is home to the second largest research park in the United States and to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) with its world-class educational program, Space Camp®.

The transformation grew from the smoke and fire that birthed America's space program. It is here in Huntsville that:

Rockets were developed that put the first U.S. satellite into orbit and sent men to the moon;
Propulsion for the space shuttle was developed
Modules for the International Space Station (ISS) were designed and built;
America’s next great ship – the Space Launch System – is being designed;
Science on the ISS is monitored 24/7 at the Payload Operations Center at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

During the final months that von Braun and his team of scientists were refining the giant Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon, he was also preparing to launch another important project: a permanent exhibit to showcase the hardware of the space program. Von Braun was director of MSFC when he approached the Alabama Legislature with the idea of creating a museum jointly with the U.S. Army Missile Command and NASA. The U.S. Army donated land, and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center® opened its doors in 1970. Since then, nearly 17 million people have toured the Center. Many of the more than 650,000 annual visitors are school students on field trips to their future. Dozens of interactive exhibits encourage guest participation, prompting one official to note: "Here, everyone can be an astronaut for the day!"

Learn More »

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