Discovery Center inspires the next generation at Aerospace Day
Visitors of all ages lined up at the door of the Flint Hills Discovery Center Saturday for its Aerospace Day event, which included free admission.
Every room was filled with lively chatter as children and their parents explored exhibits and participated in activities.
Children could fly drones in the lobby, ride a flight simulator and take pictures on the Jayhawk, a missile designed by University of Kansas engineers.
Stephen Bridenstine, the Discovery Center’s assistant director, said within the first half hour, the center gave away 500 STEM kit bags. The bags were filled with take-home science projects and airplane activities for children, meant to inspire them to think about the science of aviation.
“We applied for this NASA grant to get the funding for today,” Bridenstine said. “We made the argument that this is an under-served region and community for the aerospace sector. Aviation and aerospace is huge in Kansas. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry, but it’s mainly based in Wichita. We made the argument that kids here in the Flint Hills region need opportunities to learn about education and careers in aerospace.”
The Mission Aerospace traveling exhibit walked visitors through the history of air travel, the use of aircraft in warfare and space exploration. It featured gyroscopes that children could spin, tablets where they could design a plane or a rocket, a guide on how to make paper rockets and a math puzzle to calculate how much weight a rocket could carry into space.
“It’s been spectacular,” Bridenstine said. “When you can offer everything the Discovery Center has to the community for free, the community really responds to that because they see a lot of value in what we do here with our educational programs.”
Andrew Green of Manhattan was there with his children enjoying the various activities.
“My kids are little explorers,” Green said. “They love nature and looking at the stars. When you’re young, it’s important to broaden your horizons.”
Eight-year-old Elias said that his favorite part of Aerospace Day was seeing the rockets.
“I want to be an astronaut,” Elias said.
Kansas has produced some astronauts. Joe Engle, the last person to orbit the moon, studied aerospace at the University of Kansas. Loral O’Hara, who will participate in a launch to the International Space Station later this year, also graduated from KU.
Aerospace engineering students Dean Foster and Payton Kuligowski spoke about how KU has the largest aerospace engineering program in the state. Last year, the university finished second place in the international AIAA missile design competition.
“The more people we can bring into KU, the better,” Kuligowski said. “Especially being one of the biggest booths right outside the door and having the drone demo out front as well, we’re getting a lot of traction for the university and getting the program out there.”
Kansas State University held an engineering panel, too, with students providing information about its STEM programs. The flight simulator outside of the Discovery Center was courtesy of K-State’s Salina campus, which houses the college of technology and aviation.
While some children may have walked away with a fun day, other children may have been inspired to pursue a future in aerospace.
“Kids here in the Flint Hills region need opportunities to learn about education and careers about aerospace,” Bridenstine said.