Space exhibit opening at Clinton Library

By The Associated Press

Anyone interested in learning to land a space shuttle can give it a try at the Clinton Presidential Center this summer.

The space shuttle landing simulator is among a collection of artifacts and hands-on items that span the history of the U.S. space program and will be on exhibit Saturday through Aug. 30.

Exhibits range from Deke Slayton's slide rule dating to the Mercury program to a present-day simulator that patrons can try so they can feel what it's like to attempt to move around in space.

From July 17-30, a period that spans the 40th anniversary of the moon landing by Apollo 11, the show will feature a moon rock.

Items from the Apollo program include a DSKY - short for display keyboard - which the astronauts used to input data to the guidance system for the capsule or lunar lander. There's also a fishbowl helmet like one the astronauts used on their excursions outside the lunar module, which stands in contrast to the space shuttle-era helmet that's also on display.

The exhibit, "From the Moon to Mars," has pieces that were drawn together from eight main sources and private collections. Library spokesman Jordan Johnson said meetings started in March about what to include in the exhibit. Focusing on space came from a brainstorming session with officials at the National Archives on what could be fun and educational, he said.

"We wanted something for the summer. Parents need something to do and kids are yearning for activity. I think there's a unified interest in it," Johnson said while walking through on Wednesday as crates were still being unloaded.

Johnson said two library staffers had gone to space camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville, Ala., when they were junior high students. Following their suggestions, the library tapped the camp for a number of items and built its own summer programs around them. A Mir space station model, simulators and other objects are on loan for from the center. The library is turning its regular week-long summer camp events into "a mini space camp," Johnson said.

Astronaut Story Musgrave, who flew six times on the shuttle and helped repair the Hubble Space Telescope, will be on hand for the first of the library's series of Saturday children's events. Musgrave will also be at a free but reservations-required opening event Friday evening.

Items are spread throughout the museum. Downstairs are mainly items from the Huntsville space camp, including the walk-in Mir model and the space shuttle landing simulator.

"It's tougher than you think. A pilot was in here yesterday and he couldn't do it," Johnson said.

Around the corner are several stand-alone units that are used on the space shuttle,, including a restroom, shower and water recycler. The latter is on a wheeled, metal pallet that's marked, "Remove before flight."

Upstairs, library Curator Christine Mouw showed an area that will be devoted to images from the Hubble telescope, where light boxes will hold color transparencies.

Mouw opened boxes and showed items that were about to be put in display cases.

"This will give you the creeps - space food," she said.

Mouw pulled out shrink-wrapped clear plastic packages that were labeled in Russian and English. Some were recognizable, such as macaroni and cheese, even though it looked more like an acrylic paperweight. She needed to read the label on the creamed spinach, a green-brown rectangle that could pass for a rock.

Among the Bill Clinton-related items are a plaque he received, marking the 25th anniversary of the moon landing. Clinton sent two e-mails while in office, one of which was to then-Sen. John Glenn when he was on the shuttle in 1998. Clinton didn't send it from the White House; he was at the Fayetteville home of friends Jim and Diane Blair at the time, Johnson said.

There are plenty of models, including one of the Mars Global Surveyor, which mapped and photographed the planet prior to landers being sent.

The exhibit is unique in that it was pulled together by the Clinton Foundation working with the National Archives and with the help of numerous NASA agencies, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, plus the private collectors, Johnson said.

"We don't take cookie cutter exhibits, something you pull out of the box that's been traveling around," Johnson said.

The exhibit is included in normal admission, though two of the simulators cost $1 to try. The shuttle lander is free. The Clinton Store in the downtown River Market District will have related items on its shelves.

For more information see Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.