Cosmosphere, Hutchinson KS

 

We headed out yesterday from Fort Collins and stayed overnight in the Fossil Creek Campground in Russell, Kansas. The campground is old, but adequate. Today, we had our first tourist attraction, the Cosmosphere, a space museum in Hutchinson, KS. We’ve visited quite a few Air and Space Museums over the years, the Cosmosphere did the best job we’ve seen of telling the story of the Russian space accomplishments. They start their story with the German V-1 and V-2 rockets and their advanced engines. Volkswagon made the deadly V-1 at a cost of only $500. Part of the English defense against this rocket was to flip it over with a plane, hard to believe that would succeed very often. At the end of the war, Russia and the U.S. rushed to get hold of the remaining rockets and the men who built them.

German V-1

The Russians gain an early lead in Rocket technology due to Sergei Korolev’s ingenuity. They held an advantage for many years because their rockets could boost heavier loads into space. There are exhibits of Sputnik 1 and Sputnik II as well as the U.S. Explorer satellites. Russia was also the first to get a man-made object on the moon (they have one of the 5 lunar spheres made to do this) as well as the first pictures of the backside of the moon. Russia’s firsts continued with the first dog sent into space and the first astronaut. They have a mock-up of the Russian capsule used for these first trips. They are totally spherical in shape. The amazing thing was that Yuri Gagarin did not actually land in this capsule (this was a state secret until 4 years later, but ejected from the capsule and landed by parachute. Of course, the museum also has examples of the Mercury capsule, the Gemini X capsule that sank in the Ocean and was recovered later and Apollo 13 command module. They also have replicas of the Lunar Module and Lunar Rover.

Vostok I with ejection seat

On our way to our campsite at Elk City State Park, we passed through Wichita Kansas, which had experienced an F-3 Tornado two days ago. We didn’t see destroyed houses but did see many down trees and electric utility teams trying to restore power.