Hutchinson ? The only Soviet Vostok spacecraft in the Western world. The Apollo 13 command module, Odyssey. An SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. The largest collection of space photo equipment anywhere.

Those are among hundreds of items — from a piece of Dentyne gum flown on the Apollo-Soyuz mission to the gloves with which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched the surface of the moon — that can be found at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center about an hour’s drive northwest of Wichita.

“We can really tell a story that a lot of people can’t,” said Jeff Ollenburger, president and chief executive of the Cosmosphere.

Visitors should plan on spending more than just an hour or two at the Cosmosphere, which is billed as an all-day destination.

A space fanatic could spend days in the Hall of Space Museum, marveling at all the items on display — just a fraction of what the Cosmosphere has, Ollenburger said.

Admission — $11 for adults and $8 for children 5-12 — includes access to the museum, a planetarium show, a movie at the IMAX and a trip to Dr. Goddard’s Lab, where a museum instructor performs experiments and provides an introduction to rocket science. Each show generally take about 40 minutes to an hour.

Something for everyone

The lab show is meant to be accessible for all ages, said Trish Oakley, the Cosmosphere’s marketing director.

“It’s your basic rocket science, so people are always interested,” Oakley said.

A young visitor reads about the flight-ready backup of a lunar rover on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. The museum's U.S. space artifact collection, shown June 15, has been a draw for visitors of all ages.

The Cosmosphere, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, is one of the few places experienced in spacecraft restoration, and visitors can catch a glimpse of work being conducted in the Hall of Space Museum.

In the museum, the history of space exploration is told, beginning with the rocket program Germany undertook during World War II. Along with a V-2 rocket that was restored at the Cosmosphere is a set of production documents from the German program.

“We try to wrap every piece in some kind of historical, sociological context,” Ollenburger said.

In the Cold War gallery, the museum has sections from the wall that separated East and West Germany.

The museum provides as much detail as possible, Ollenburger said, adding that he doesn’t expect everyone to read everything.

Beneath a full-scale replica of the space shuttle Endeavour, a visitor to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center uses a simulator to land a shuttle.

Early U.S. and Soviet spacecraft, including Vostok and Mercury spacecraft, are clustered together in a dimly lit gallery. But Ollenburger said the Cosmosphere planned to do some work on that area later this year.

Up close and personal

The Odyssey, however, is displayed so that visitors can walk around it and appreciate the damage done to the heat shield of the Apollo 13 command module. The spacecraft carried the mission’s three astronauts safely to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded while en route to the moon. In a display behind the Odyssey, a TV screen shows the movie, “Apollo 13,” for which the Cosmosphere helped build props, Ollenburger said.

Many visitors wonder when the Liberty Bell 7, which was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean in 1999 and restored at the Cosmosphere, will return to Kansas, Oakley said. The Mercury Spacecraft, which carried Gus Grissom on a successful 15-minute suborbital flight in 1961, will be permanently displayed at the Cosmosphere once its nationwide tour has finished.

The museum also has a temporary exhibit dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the final moon mission in 1972. Among the items displayed are a moon rock, as well as one of Ollenburger’s favorites: the cuff checklist worn by Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon. The cheat sheet contains the last words spoken on the moon.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson is flanked by a pair of early American rockets. The museum's U.S. space artifact collection is second only to the National Air and Space Museum's in Washington, D.C.

A long history

The Cosmosphere traces its roots to the Hutchinson Planetarium, which civic leader Patricia Brooks Carey opened in 1962 at the State Fairgrounds. Four years later, the planetarium moved to its current location next to Hutchinson Community College.

Eventually, the planetarium board members turned to Max Ary, a space expert who had worked at the Hutchinson Planetarium while he was in college. Ary just happened to be serving on a Smithsonian committee to find homes for artifacts released after the Apollo program ended, when the board asked him if he happened to have any ideas for a museum.

Under Ary’s direction, the Kansas Cosmosphere was launched in 1980, and a small-town planetarium was transformed into a nationally recognized space museum on the Plains.

Cosmosphere officials say the most common question they are asked is: “Why Hutchinson?”

Ollenburger responds: “Why not?”