Brownsville youth get taste of space through ‘NASA Space Adventures' exhibit

The "NASA Space Adventures" exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Brownsville is stretching young minds this month.

Learning about the universe requires big thinking, and visitors at the Saturday opening of this year’s traveling exhibit were stunned by some of the quantities, distances and concepts they were asked to imagine: The sun is not hundreds or thousands of miles from earth, but millions; astronauts’ space suits cost upwards of $5 million and take years to construct; astronauts cannot visit the sun, because their spaceships would melt long before they would arrive.

The museum’s educational director, Claudia Garza, said that bringing in traveling displays gives local youth the opportunity to see high-quality exhibits that they might not see otherwise.

"It’s fun to be able to bring that to our children," Garza said. "We always promote education in our exhibits, but we especially like to promote science."

Garza said the exhibit incorporates informational panels with hands-on learning tools. A kid-size space suit, backpack and helmet are available to try on. The young people also saw a replica of an adult-size flight suit, authentic NASA space food and replicas of moon rocks.

Children filled the museum on Saturday, fashioning the solar system with glue, sparkles and paper, recreating the moon cycle with Oreos and frosting, and blasting mini-rocket ships from a launch pad. A rotating space shuttle filled one of the museum’s back rooms, inviting the children to envision themselves blasting off inside.

"You never know," Garza said, "one of these kids could be an astronaut some day."