[Mb-civic] Space Place, Needs Some Help

[Jim Burns]

What's neat about this museum in Florida is not only that it's hands-on,
but that it's FREE to the public. (Bizarrely, and conversely, the
government turned the Kennedy Space Center--a fantastic place to tour,
by the way--over to a PRIVATE company, a few years ago, and entrance
fees, I believe, are no around FIFTY BUCKS...) 

Those of you who have known me for a while know how vital I beliee
museums and libraries are to a society's well-being... (Oh, my! That
sounded pretentious...) 

:-) 

But this place, as you'll see from this article, if you're so inclined
could use some help. I'm certain that even a couple of buckaroos would
come in handy. 

It seems sad to let a locale that celebrates our attempts at achieving a
better future, to slip into its own antiquity. 

Best, Jim 
__________________ 

April 11, 2006 

Space museum has high hopes for fundraiser BY TOM BREEN 
FLORIDA TODAY 

Dane Beard dug into his pockets the other day and dropped about $2 in
change on the counter of the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum in
Titusville. 

"Here's all I have," the 9-year-old Port St. John boy said. "Please use
this. I really don't want you to close." 

Dane is hoping adults in the community and in government, who have far
more money than he does, also can help. 

Unless the museum comes up with rent money soon, it will close this
summer, said Charlie Mars, president of the U.S. Space Walk of Fame
Foundation, which oversees a place that is packed with one-of-a-kind
items from the space program's 50-plus years. 

To help it stay open, the local chapter of the National Space Society
will hold a fundraiser Wednesday. It is being held in conjunction with
an international event called "Yuri's Night" honoring Russian Yuri
Gagarin's flight into space 45 years ago Wednesday as well as the 25th
anniversary year of the first shuttle launch. 
"We will be losing a great collection of space artifacts, as well as the
stories told daily by the volunteers themselves, if the museum closes,"
said Tim Bailey, an aerospace engineer and member of the local
space-society chapter. 

The space society, which is based in Washington, D.C., works for the
advancement of space programs in chapters around the country. It has no
direct connection to the local foundation that oversees the museum, but,
Bailey said, "Everybody interested in space needs to help." 

Wednesday's event is expected to draw a large crowd of museum
supporters, Bailey said. 
One of them is Dane's mother. 

"My son was horrified when he heard it might have to close," said Cathy
Beard, who worked the Kennedy Space Center for 18 years in the shuttle
program and as a typesetter and illustrator. Her husband, Richard, still
works there as a graphic artist. "Nobody wants to see it close. There is
so much history there." 

But whether the public's interest in keeping the place open "translates
into real financial help" remains an open question, Mars said. In
addition to overseeing the museum, the foundation has set up a Walk of
Fame at Space View Park in Titusville. Among the tributes to space there
are handprints of many famous astronauts, including those of Alan
Shepard and John Glenn. 

"All our money comes from foundations and grants, and we just aren't
getting enough funds," Mars said. He said the rent at Searstown Mall has
been raised from about $1,500 a month to $5,000 a month. Opened in 2002,
the Titusville facility is one of three such space museums in Brevard
County. The others are the Astronaut Hall of Fame and the Kennedy Space
Center Visitor Complex. 

The latter two are commercial ventures, charging admission, while the
Titusville museum operates through donations and grants. 

"We don't charge to come here because we want it to be a people's
place," Mars said. 
Also, unlike the other two museums, this one displays scores of personal
items revealing the human side of space and allows visitors to get up
close and personal with the artifacts. 

"You can actually work a joy stick from the Apollo simulators and feel
the fabric of the test suits," engineer Bailey, 26, said. "It's so cool
and interactive. Where else can you do this?" 

Neither Dane nor Bailey, of course, go back far enough to remember the
heyday of the space program in the 1960s and 1970s. But both provide
ample anecdotal evidence that younger generations are captivated by
space as much as previous ones. 

"We all should think like astronauts, to try to be part of space,"
Bailey said. 

© Copyright 2006 Florida Today