FREE PLANETARIUM TUNNEL EXHIBIT
CLOSING LATE FALL

Mission: Control The Spread

Our new exhibit, Mission: Control the Spread, shows how NASA continues to innovate to overcome obstacles to benefit humanity. The exhibit tells the story behind NASA’s innovations working to end the pandemic, what people can do to slow the spread of the coronavirus and what NASA does to keep astronauts safe.

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WHAT’S NEW? Galleries & Programs


Energy Stage Shows

Join us for exciting and entertaining demonstrations using fire, electricity and more. Educators will ignite and deepen the curiosity of the Energy Stage audiences by showcasing all areas of STEM.

Energy Stage shows take place daily:
10:15am | 11:15am | 12:15pm | 3:15pm

Learn more about Energy Stage



Makerspace

3D Designing Workshop
September–November | 2–4pm

Come to Makerspace this fall and try your hand at 3D design. Guests will learn the basics of manipulating structures and shapes with a computer.

Learn more about Makerspace


NEW! PLANETARIUM TUNNEL EXHIBIT

Coming Soon: Inside the Vault

Have you ever wondered what treasures are in the Saint Louis Science Center’s Collections? Step Inside the Vault, take a peek, and find out!

This fall, the Science Center will open an exhibition in the tunnel that will give guests the opportunity to gaze in wonder at some of the amazing artifacts and specimens from the Collections. This will be the largest display of Collections objects in 30 years!

Called Inside the Vault, the exhibition will showcase a remarkable variety of objects that illustrate the breadth and uniqueness of our Collections. Why a vault? Designing the exhibit space to look and feel like a bank vault helps to give a sense that you are stepping into a secure vault to store precious objects. All the items within the Science Center Collections are precious objects to be preserved and protected.

For more than 160 years, numerous individuals and groups have donated to the Collection, building it up to over 100,000 artifacts and specimens. Several of those individual donors were serious collectors who spent years amassing large collections based on their personal interests or field of study. This exhibition will feature the collections of six individual donors, highlighting some of the best and most interesting artifacts and specimens in each.

What can learning about these collections tell us about why humans have a desire to collect? What do YOU find interesting about these collections? What connections or differences do you see between the collections that makes you want to learn more? Help us to discover what about these collections, and collecting, inspires you and ignites your curiosity.

So what’s in the vault? First is the Hansen Mineral Collection, which includes some beautiful and stunning minerals collected from all over the world. Next is the Morton Lighting Collection, which includes various lamps and lighting devices from all over the world and across time (over the past two thousand years). Also included is the Barker Shell Collection, which boasts more than 4,000 shells! Additionally, there is the Davis Miniature Collection, a fascinating collection of miniature statues and other objects representing both human and animal forms. Next is the Stinchcomb Fossil Collection, which includes fossils of marine creatures, plants, and mammals. Finally, the vault will feature the Grimm Elephant Collection, which is a collection focused on this majestic animal.

We hope you join us “inside the vault” to discover these fascinating artifacts for yourself and to learn more about what it means to collect.