Space Center Expansion Celebrates "Inspiration"

The expansion of the Columbia Memorial Space Center will honor the City of Downey’s pivotal role in a defining era of U.S. space exploration, while creating new opportunities for STEM learning and community engagement. The 33,000-square-foot addition centers on a two-story exhibit hall designed to showcase Inspiration, the original 122-foot plywood mockup of the space shuttle.

The museum is on the site of the former North American Rockwell facility where engineers developed the Apollo command capsule and space shuttle. The mockup changed hands when Boeing acquired Rockwell’s aerospace division in 1996. After Boeing closed the plant in 1999, the mockup was relocated to make room for a film studio and later donated to the city and moved to the space center, where it was rechristened Inspiration.

The new exhibit hall, going up on land next to the existing Columbia Memorial Space Center, will finally give Inspiration a permanent home. The open floor plan will feature rotating exhibits, including an Apollo capsule. A hangar-style door opens the hall to the plaza and outdoor classroom and STEM environments. Every element is designed to salute the men and women who designed, engineered and manufactured the vehicles that took us into space.