The new Columbia Learning Center at Kennedy Space Center will be divided into three areas: a pre-show area where a short movie will be screened; an exhibit area with recovered artifacts from the fallen space shuttle Columbia; and a learning area with multimedia displays to help mitigate future accidents. Credit: NASA via collectSPACE.com
The new Columbia Learning Center, to be located on the first floor of Kennedy Space Center’s Operations Support Building 1 (OSB-1), will be divided into three areas.
“The new space will begin with a short movie, then a gallery exhibition of Columbia artifacts and finally a learning area with multimedia stations that speak to the accidents, lessons learned and training tools to help mitigate future accidents,” the NASA representative wrote.
NASA previously toured with a selection of space shuttle Columbia recovered artifacts, bringing them to each of its 10 facilities across the nation to educate and inspire its workforce. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Planning is now underway as to what specific pieces of Columbia will fit and be placed into the learning center. Among the objects under consideration are some items from the orbiter’s crew cabin that were previously shared with the workforce.
Construction of the new space in OSB-1 is expected to be complete by October 1, at which point outfitting of the room will begin. The Columbia Learning Center is targeted to open to employees in January.
Forever remembered
Access to the new Columbia Learning Center will be strictly limited to badge-holding employees. No public access is planned.
“The public can continue to learn about the mission at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s ‘Forever Remembered’ exhibit,” NASA’s spokesperson told collectSPACE.
Opened in 2015 inside the building displaying the retired space shuttle Atlantis, “Forever Remembered” exhibits the forward window frames from Columbia and a segment of the fuselage of Challenger, along with mementos associated with all 14 fallen astronauts from the two space shuttle tragedies.
The flight deck windows recovered from space shuttle Columbia are displayed as part of “Forever Remembered.” Credit: collectSPACE.com
Separately, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also displays the hatches from the Apollo 1 command module that prevented three astronauts from escaping a fire in the capsule during a 1967 test on the launch pad.
The changes to the Columbia Research and Preservation Office and Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program do not alter the legal status of the recovered artifacts from each tragedy, which remain the property of the US government regardless of where they are located. Any debris still found today should be reported to the NASA Safety Center.
