Coca-Cola Space Science Center

OK, I like to go to new places. Having a boy who is old enough to go places with me really does make me smile. This week we went to the Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, GA. It is a part of Columbus State University and while I had seen their website before I really had no idea what it was or what was inside.

But on Saturday I needed an adventure so Nathan and I loaded up together to go check it out. It is basically a planetarium. You know the huge dome theater that you went to on a class field trip or if you are from the Western Kentucky area when you went to the Land Between the Lakes.

The show we went to see was a kids show called “My Backyard” it was just about right on the level for a 4 year old. Some parts of it were a little young, but most of it was educational and Nathan stayed engrossed the whole time. Of course he doesn’t like loud noises so I had to bribe him with the promise of a treat to get him to stay in the theater and let him wear the ridiculous headphones that you see in the pictures. He sat in my lap with his head laid back on my chest and both hands pressed against his ears the whole time, but he stayed and actually was singing the song and still talking about the movie today. 

In the lobby of the Space Science Center are a bunch of interactive displays that Nathan found pretty fun. There is the nosecone of a space shuttle, some cool camera stuff (like a green screen and an inferred camera). There are also the things that you see in the pictures below. Nathan and I had a fun time playing and then going to watch the movie.

Probably Nathan’s favorite thing was this rug that was on a little stage in front of a looping movie about astronauts. He kept singing the planet song that he learned from Blues Clues and walking to each planet.

This is a model of a nosecone of the Apollo II rocket (I think it was 2, it could be a different Apollo rocket). I had to force Nathan to stand in front of it because he thought that it would make a noise.

They have 4 of these airplane cockpits that move around like you are flying in a plane. Again, I had to make Nathan sit in it so I could take his picture, and even though he sat in my lap while I played he wouldn’t let me make it move.

For over 30 minutes Nathan sat with his hands on his ears like this, of course for most of the time he was in my lap.

It just happens that the Space Science Center is across the street from “Heritage Park” which is just a little place with plaques that tell about the history of Columbus. Nathan and I took some pictures in there too.

 

We finished up our day by going around the block to the downtown Columbus area to get something to eat. We walked by a used bookstore and Nathan wanted to go in. When we got inside he ran right to the back looking for the train. He was pretty sad when I explained that not all bookstores have train tables. But they did have a chess game and he made me sit down and play chess by Nathan rules which of course means that he won. Finally we went to eat at a little deli where Nathan of course got a hotdog and also a big cookie.