Apollo 11: First Steps Edition

Crafted from a newly-discovered trove of 70 mm footage and more than 11,000 hours of audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission: the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Solar System Gallery (Guided Tour) or Astronomy (Guided Exploration).

Click here to access the Educator Guide! 

NEW for 2019-2020!

Astronomy Guided Exploration

Includes 30-minute Solar System Gallery Guided Tour and a related 30-minute hands-on activity. 

Explore the astronomical history of our universe in the Solar System Gallery. Students will encounter interactive displays that allow them to virtually travel to the Moon, learn about gravity, and more. Then, travel to our Universe Gallery to engage with our state-of-the-art OmniGlobe!

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dinosaur Passage to Pangaea, Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia (Planetarium Show) and all astronomy-themed planetarium shows.

Beetles, Bugs, & Butterflies

This artful approach to science motivates students to explore the amazing world of insects while learning about adaptations, physiology, and the role insects play in their daily lives. Colorful, take-home art projects creatively reinforce scientific concepts.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with The Traveling Trunk Show (Interactive Educational Theater) and Flight of the Butterflies (Planetarium Show).

Dipper’s Adventure

Dipper the Bear takes young students on a fun-filled, interactive camping adventure to discover constellations, our Moon, and other daytime and nighttime objects in the sky. This live, educator-led program is great for first-time visitors to the planetarium.

Dipper's Adventure is preceded by a live, presenter-led tour of the current seasonal night sky.

Dream Big: Engineering Our World

Dream Big: Engineering Our World celebrates the human ingenuity behind engineering marvels big and small, and reveals the heart that drives engineers to create better lives for people around the world while transforming the way we think about engineering.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Marbles, Motion, & Magnets, Engineering: Simple Machines, Engineering Encounters, and Robot Design Challenge (Classes).

Click here to access the Educator Guide!

Earth, Moon & Sun

Explore the relationship between the Earth, Moon, and Sun with the help of Coyote, an amusing character adapted from Native American oral traditions. Your students will discover solar and lunar eclipses along with the Moon’s orbit, craters, and phases.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with The Art of Astronomy (Class).

Earth, Moon & Sun is preceded by a live, presenter-led tour of the current seasonal night sky.

Engineering: Simple Machines

As they cooperatively problem-solve in groups, young engineers will investigate the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of objects while building various machines. Exciting hands-on challenges will focus on Newton’s Laws of Motion and the Law of Conservation of Energy. Activities will illustrate the relevance of engineering in daily life as students design and build together.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dream Big: Engineering Our World and Secrets of Gravity: In the Footsteps of Albert Einstein (Planetarium Shows).

Flight of the Butterflies

Follow the monarchs’ perilous journey, join hundreds of millions of real butterflies in the remote mountain peaks of Mexico, and discover the compelling true story of a scientist’s 40-year search to find the monarchs’ secret hideaway in this beautiful scientific adventure.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with The Traveling Trunk Show (Interactive Educational Theater) and Beetles, Bugs, & Butterflies (Class).

Click here to access the Educator Guide!

Geology Guided Exploration

Includes a 30-minute Solar System Gallery Guided Tour and a related 30-minute hands-on activity.

Get hands-on with geological processes and activities in the Solar System Gallery. An exhibition of minerals and fossils, including a 65-million-year-old authentic Triceratops prosus skull, will teach students about our aging planet. 

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dinosaur Passage to Pangaea and Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia (Planetarium Show).

Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean

Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau, invites you to dive into this whole new world that will leave you in awe of the beauty and diversity of the oceans – the source of all life on our planet. Secret Ocean introduces audiences to over 30 species, illuminating behaviors captured for the first time thanks to new underwater filming tools.

Click here to access the Educator Guide!