Science Museum Oklahoma

The Science Museum Oklahoma is a science museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The museum is home to the Kirkpatrick Planetarium and a number of specialized galleries.

The museum began as the Kirkpatrick Planetarium in 1958, which moved to a permanent dome at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in 1962. Later that year, the Oklahoma Science and Arts Foundation was founded on the fairgrounds. In 1978 the foundation changed its name to Omniplex Science Museum, then moved with the Kirkpatrick Planetarium to the newly built Kirkpatrick Center museum campus. Later additions include the Oklahoma Air and Space Museum in 1980, the Kirkpatrick Gardens and Greenhouse in 1985, and the OmniDome Theater in 1998, Oklahoma's first large-format, dome-screen theater. In 2007 Omniplex changed its name to Science Museum Oklahoma. Since the rebranding the museum has undergone extensive remodeling, adding numerous new exhibits and galleries, including a kid-friendly space exhibit and art galleries.

This section of the museum preserves and honors the contributions of Oklahomans to aerospace. Notable artifacts include the Apollo Command Module simulator, an Apollo Lunar Module replica built by Canadian inventor William Lishman, and artifacts related to Oklahoman aviator Wiley Post. Some of the artifacts are currently on loan to the Oklahoma History Center, which opened in November 2005.

The museum houses the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame, which has a new second floor exhibit with pictures and biographies of the inductees. One of the inductees is Eula Pearl Carter Scott. The main exhibit hall with historical exhibits including full-scale models of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules as well as the actual Apollo Command Module Simulator used to train Apollo astronauts, is currently closed for construction. The room can still be seen from a balcony in an obscure AWAC exhibit.

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