An Amazing Journey: the Life and Legacy of Astronaut Laurel Clark

This exhibit celebrates the life and career of Racine-native Laurel Clark, one of the seven astronauts who perished when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry in 2003. Her sense of adventure, education and career took her all over the world, under oceans and out into space.

Here are featured artifacts, documents and photographs that tell the story of her remarkable life as a Naval diver, surgeon, pilot, astronaut, nature lover, wife and mother.

Return from a dive.

The exhibit also includes unique scientific, interactive projects that help visitors understand the environmental conditions aboard the orbiting laboratories of the space shuttle.

Learn how sound waves behave in a vacuum.
Discover momentary weightlessness.
Create and maintain a centrifugal force "orbit" and achieve the elusive "triple point" where water is simultaneously a gas, a solid, and a liquid

Balloons and bells behave differently in microgravity. Try it and see!

For More Information

We welcome field trips and groups of students, and our Education Director is ready to help design special programs. Call (262) 636 3926 for details on our flexible programming. We are always willing to help teachers with their curriculum needs.

For programs, please note that advance reservations are required and will be taken on a first come, first served basis. An adult chaperone (free entry) is required for every ten students. Building constraints limit maximum visitor numbers to 60 students.

We are delighted to make our gift shop available to your students - please request a shop visit when scheduling.