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Hands-on experiences dominate the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, where encountering artifacts that highlight aerospace history is on equal footing with learning about its future.
The many interactive exhibits that dot the new building’s 200,000 square feet of gallery space are geared to entice and educate people of all ages. But kids will be especially intrigued. The center’s leaders, including Science Center President and Chief Executive Jeffrey Rudolph and Ken Phillips, curator of aerospace science, said during a recent tour that in many ways the museum is meant for kids. It’s not a childish place, but it does produce childlike wonder. It’s hard to remain cynical when you’re surrounded by physical evidence of the vast nature of the universe.
The sheer scale of it hits you all at once. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you step into the museum, with its planes hanging from the ceiling and its rockets jutting through the floors. This list of the best interactive exhibits on offer will help you plan a successful visit in advance. Just be sure to brace yourself for your children’s inevitable wails when you try to pull them away.
And expect lines — these experiences are likely to be in high demand.
This slide is not for the faint of heart
The 115-foot-long shuttle descent slide at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center goes very fast. (Allen J. Schaben, top, and Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Two 115-foot-long tubular metal shuttle descent slides whisk visitors from the upper floor of the Endeavour shuttle gallery to the base of the shuttle — a drop of 45 feet in elevation. The speed of your journey depends on what you’re wearing. Jeans create friction to slow you down, as will your skin if you’re in shorts or a skirt. Weight also plays a role, so be careful if you send your 6-year-old down the slide in stretch pants. The kid will fly, and depending on their thrill-ride tolerance, will emerge grinning or in tears. As you reach the end of the slide, interior lights flash and a voice crackles to life saying, “Welcome home, Endeavour.”
George Lucas was highly involved in the creation and curation of the 300,000-square-foot Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The museum and grounds are a lot to take in so here’s an essential hit list to help you plan your visit.
Fly to Seoul in minutes
The 747 experience at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center simulates a very quick flight from L.A. to Seoul.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The Korean Air 747 experience allows visitors to enter the forward third of a massive Korean Air Boeing 747-400 that was relocated from an air park in Arizona, and reassembled piece by piece and bolt by bolt inside the Oschin. Once inside, you can peek at the elaborate cockpit complete with inflatable pilot before heading down a small, narrow staircase to rows of seats where a giant screen as well as smaller screens in the airplane’s passenger windows simulate a very quick flight from Los Angeles to Seoul. Even though the plane does not move or shift at all, the screens evoke a sense of flight — enough to provide a thrill for fans of flying and a nervous stomach for the flight averse.
Float gravity-free around the International Space Station
You lie on your belly to control the International Space Station Fly-Through Simulator at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
You have to lie on your stomach to operate the controls in the International Space Station fly-through simulator, an immersive experience that allows you to pull yourself gravity-free through the claustrophobic and absolutely fascinating confines of the International Space Station. From your prone position, you use a joy stick to move forward, back or down while staring into a large screen featuring real footage of the interior of the ISS taken by astronaut Scott Kelly.
Take a virtual walk through space
The space walk simulator at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center allows you to explore the exterior of the International Space Center.
(Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times)
Stand in front of a full-sized screen, pick your language (all exhibits at the Oschin are explained in Spanish and English) and use a nifty joystick to virtually step outside the International Space Station as it orbits a harrowing 250 miles above Earth. While you float in space, you can check out the minute details of the station’s exterior and turn to marvel at the breathtaking, peaceful-looking tableau of our home planet.
Pilot the Endeavour yourself
The Endeavour flight deck replica is wheelchair accessible and contains a vast number of buttons and switches.
(Jason Armond /Los Angeles Times)
Expect small children to dominate this detailed replica of the interior of Endeavour’s flight deck, which features an absolutely astonishing number of buttons and switches — including the all important abort switch, which allowed pilots to call things off if the situation became dicey. There are also commander and pilot seats, including one that is wheelchair accessible. There’s a great view of Endeavour’s mammoth shuttle stack through the windshield for parents to admire while their kids go bonkers.
Don’t crash that orbiter
The orbiter landing simulator at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center looks deceptively simple to operate.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
The Endeavour orbiter landing simulator looks deceptively easy to operate, but once you grab the rudimentary joystick and attempt to glide the orbiter to a safe landing on the runway, you might just crash. We did — multiple times. Astronaut material we are not. Keep in mind that when an orbiter lands, it does so through the power of sheer glide. There are no working jet or rocket engines at that point in flight, which makes controlling the complex space vehicle that much trickier (or so we are telling ourselves).
Fly a drone over miniature L.A.
You can launch a drone mission above a mini-L.A. at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
This interactive drone exhibit features the most charming miniaturized version of L.A., including notable landmarks like the Griffith Observatory, the Capitol Records building, Randy’s Donuts and the Hollywood sign. If you’ve never flown a drone, now is your chance; and if you have, this exhibit allows you to test your skills. Fear not, netting surrounding the exhibit will keep errant drones from slamming into unwitting museum visitors.
Program a remote-controlled Mars rover
(Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times)
Near the actual Mars rovers you’ll find a fleet of mini remote-controlled Mars rovers that you can program and operate yourself — sending them roaming across a fabricated Martian surface in search of clues of extraterrestrial life. When actual rover drivers send instructions to vehicles in space, there is a time delay between when the radio signal is sent from Earth to when it reaches Mars. True to form, your rover will also experience a time delay, just not quite as long.
Reservations for the California Science Center’s new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, home to Space Shuttle Endeavour, open Oct. 21.
Ride an elevator up the shuttle stack
A launch tower elevator up Endeavour’s shuttle stack leads to a glass-floor platform above the nose of the shuttle.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
One of the most rewarding experiences in the museum is taking an elevator ride 140 feet up the the launch tower, which is directly next to Endeavour and provides up-close views of the shuttle stack. You can even see the individual heat-scarred tiles resembling a handmade quilt and marvel at the crew hatch where astronauts entered the flight deck. A trip to the tippity-top requires one of only three paid tickets in the whole museum ($10 with a timed reservation). From there you can step out onto a glass-floored viewing platform over Endeavour’s nose and stare down into the flight deck from between your feet. If you’re afraid of heights, prepare to feel slightly queasy.
A daring race through the sky
(Samuel Oschin Air and Space Museum)
The Oschin’s cutting-edge air race flight simulators place museumgoers in the pilot’s seat of iconic aircraft from the collection including the cherry red Pitts Special, the JN-4 Jenny and the Velie Monocoupe. Once seated, guests can race against one another for a spot on the leaderboard using a simple joystick control. These realistic simulators feature 360-degree rotation and can seat up to two people. This experience will also require a timed reservation and a paid ticket—$12 per person for a shared flight and $20 for a solo flight.
Put on a pair of wings
The wear-a-wing exhibit at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center allows guests to don a pair of foam wings and stand in a wind tunnel to experience the feeling of flight.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Feel how an airplane feels as it hurtles through windy skies at top speed. Choose a pair of foam wings — large or small — slip your arms through and stand in a life-sized wind tunnel. As the swift air blows you back, you can experiment by twisting and turning your new appendages to experience the lift force and drop of various movements.
A movie to make you cry
The shuttle theater is the first stop for visitors to Endeavour. The J.J. Abrams-produced film is a real tearjerker.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
We’re not crying, you are! Prepare to come face to face with the majesty of Endeavour by watching this J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot-produced introductory short film, which admittedly idealizes NASA’s complicated space shuttle program and includes footage of Endeavour’s final launch into space. At the end of the movie, smoke billows into the theater, the screen lifts and Endeavour itself is revealed in launch position.
