A cold, blustery day is a great day to go to a science museum. This museum sits up on the edge of Alamogordo with a great view of the city from its tall windows. It’s a really neat design, and Tony immediately thought it looked like a space hanger like we have seen at Kennedy and Starbase. After purchasing tickets, we headed up in the elevator to the fifth floor, then worked our way down through the exhibits. Each floor has a large display, then ramps with views of the mountains and city lead down to the next floor so you spiral down. It’s a really unique layout!

Quotes about space exploration from Sagen, Hubble, Galileo and others were on the first exhibit wall. My favorite was “Astronomy’s much more fun when you are not an astronomer,” by Brian May, guitarist for Queen, who has a PhD in astrophysics and has worked with NASA in his spare time between Queen gigs.

One of the first displays talked about the role White Sands has played in our nuclear and space history. This is a model of the Trinity Test site obelisk and some chunks of trinitite that formed from the heat of the first nuclear explosion. The site is only open for tours a couple of times a year, and the one in April for this year has already been cancelled.

The history of rockets and satellites were on display. Dr. Van Allen is an Iowa connection with the physics building on the U of I campus bearing his name. The museum staff is actively updating displays and had one on Thomas Stanford, a native son, who died just a week ago.

There was also a fun section on science fiction in media.

The Daisy track, designed by Colonel John Paul Stapp, was used to test the effects of G-force on test subjects, typically officers and enlisted men at Holloman Air Force Base. They received hazardous duty pay when testing. Fun Fact: In 1958, Captain Eli Beeding, Jr. accidentally withstood 83 Gs in a backward facing seat, the safest position. This knocked him out for ten minutes and bruised his back. Hazardous duty pay, indeed!