The Science Museum Oklahoma is a science museum

Science museum

A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...

 in Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

. The museum is home to the Kirkpatrick Planetarium

Planetarium

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

 and a dome theater, as well as a number of specialized galleries.

History

The museum began as the Kirkpatrick Planetarium in 1958, which moved to a permanent dome at the Oklahoma State Fair

Oklahoma State Fair

The Oklahoma State Fair is a large fair and exposition in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It takes place in mid-September each year, and is one of two state fairs in Oklahoma. During an 11-day run, the Oklahoma State Fair attracts close to one million people. By a small margin, it is larger in attendance...

grounds in 1962. Later that year, the Oklahoma Science and Arts Foundation was founded on the fairgrounds. In 1978 the foundation changed its name to Omniplex Science Museum, then moved with the Kirkpatrick Planetarium to the newly built Kirkpatrick Center museum campus. Later additions include the Oklahoma Air and Space Museum in 1980, the Kirkpatrick Gardens and Greenhouse in 1985, and the OmniDome Theater in 1998, Oklahoma's first large-format, dome-screen theater

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

. In 2007 Omniplex changed its name to Science Museum Oklahoma. Since the rebranding the museum has undergone extensive remodeling, adding countless new exhibits and galleries, including a kid-friendly space exhibit and three new art galleries.

Kirkpatrick Air and Space Museum

This section of the museum preserves and honors the contributions of Oklahomans to aerospace. Notable artifacts include the Apollo Command Module

Apollo Command/Service Module

The Command/Service Module was one of two spacecraft, along with the Lunar Module, used for the United States Apollo program which landed astronauts on the Moon. It was built for NASA by North American Aviation...

 simulator, an Apollo Lunar Module

Apollo Lunar Module

The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back...

 replica built by Canadian inventor William Lishman

Bill Lishman

Bill Lishman is a Canadian inventor, artist, and ultralight aircraft enthusiast.-Gliders and ultralights:Lishman started out by flying a motorized ultralight fixed-wing glider called the UFM Easy Riser, a bi-wing craft designed in California by Larry Mauro as a hang glider...

, and artifacts related to Oklahoman aviator Wiley Post

Wiley Post

Wiley Hardeman Post was a famed American aviator, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's...

. Some of the artifacts are currently on loan to the Oklahoma History Center

Oklahoma History Center

The Oklahoma History Center is the history museum of the State of Oklahoma. Located across the street from the Governor's mansion at 2401 N. Laird Avenue in Oklahoma City, the museum opened in 2005 and is operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society...

, which opened in November 2005.

Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame

The museum houses the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame, which has a new second floor exhibit with pictures and biographies of the inductees. The main exhibit hall with historical exhibits including full-scale models of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules as well as the actual Apollo Command Module Simulator used to train Apollo astronauts, is currently closed for construction. The room can still be seen from a balcony in an obscure AWAC exhibit.

International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum

No longer located at the museum

This gallery is a tribute to the art and technology of photography. It is home to the world's largest "photo-mural", a laserscape of the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

. The gallery also holds a large collection of prints and original Kodak camera equipment. The gallery closed in 2009 for relocation within the Science Oklahoma complex.

Red Earth Museum

No longer located in museum

Formerly located at the Science Museum Oklahoma, the Red Earth Museum and office relocated to downtown Oklahoma City in early 2010, to 6 Santa Fe Plaza, next to the historic Skirvin Hotel. The museum examines Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 cultures and lifestyles.

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame

The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame

The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics....

 is located inside Science Museum Oklahoma, and features collections of medals, apparatus, and awards, various pieces of sculptures, and a library. The organization dedicated to honoring those who have furthered the sport of gymnastics. Inductees include Nadia Comăneci

Nadia Comaneci

Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...

, Olga Korbut

Olga Korbut

Olga Valentinovna Korbut , also known as the Sparrow from Minsk, is a Belarusian, Soviet-born gymnast who won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympics, in which she competed in 1972 and 1976 for the USSR team....

, Bart Conner

Bart Conner

Bart Wayne Conner is a former American gymnast who, as a member of the gold medal-winning men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games won an individual gold on the parallel bars...

, Valery Liukin, Mary Lou Retton

Mary Lou Retton

Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title, after 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.-Personal life:Retton was born in Fairmont, West...

, Larisa Latynina, Nikolai Andrianov

Nikolai Andrianov

Nikolai Yefimovich Andrianov was a Soviet/Russian gymnast. He held the record for men for the most Olympic medals at 15 until Michael Phelps surpassed him at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics...

, and Věra Čáslavská

Vera Cáslavská

Věra Čáslavská is a Czech gymnast. Blonde, cheerful and possessing impressive stage presence, she was generally popular with the public and won a total of 22 international titles...

.

The Dome Theater

The Dome Theater is currently the only theater of its kind in Oklahoma City. It is a large format theater running 15/70 mm film. The bulb inside the projector is 15,000 watts.

External links

• Science Museum Oklahoma official website
• Science Museum Oklahoma info, photos and videos on TravelOK.com Official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma
• Red Earth Museum official site
• Red Earth Museum info, photos and video on TravelOK.com Official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma
• International Photography Hall of Fame official site