– A twice-flown SpaceX space capsule was put on public display for the first time, alongside the second Mercury spacecraft to carry an American into Earth orbit and the first Apollo command module to fly astronauts to the moon.
The final first-generation Dragon capsule that SpaceX built to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station went on display Sunday (May 19) as part of a renovated gallery at Chicago’s newly renamed Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. A $125 million donation from hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin — the largest donation in the museum’s history — helped fund the renovation of the Henry Crown Space Center, including the addition of the SpaceX exhibit.
“This is the first major renovation of the Henry Crown Space Center since it opened in 1986,” said Voula Saridakis, curator of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, in an interview with collectSPACE. “Previously, the gallery was state-of-the-art up until the Space Shuttle and the manned and unmanned missions in the 1990s.”
“We have now updated all the content,” Saridakis said. “It is still an exhibition about space exploration since the 1950s, but now the focus is on space exploration over the last 20 to 30 years.”
Astronaut Scott Carpenter’s 1962 Mercury spacecraft Aurora 7 and the Apollo 8 command module that carried Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders to the moon in 1968 remain the main attractions, but so too are the SpaceX Dragon and other, newer artifacts added to the gallery.
“When you walk into the Henry Crown Space Center, you see Apollo and Mercury and you can take in that history,” Saridakis said. “Then when you walk around the back, you see the entrance to the Dragon area. Go in and experience the newer missions. See what they represent and why they’re important.”
Dragon C113, donated by SpaceX and delivered to the museum two years ago, spent 64 days on its two missions to the space station. It was used for the 12th and 17th Commercial Resupply Flights (CRS), launched on behalf of NASA in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Its deliveries included the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM) scientific instrument and the STP-H6 demo, built for the first space-based X-ray band communications.
C113 is the second Dragon spacecraft to be placed on permanent public display, following another first-generation capsule at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. SpaceX also displays a working Dragon capsule at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
As part of the renovation, the Dragon and Apollo 8 were placed in specially designed conical glass boxes that surround visitors with lighting effects and video walls as they ride in the capsules.
“We developed these new glass display cases for Apollo and Dragon that offer 360° views. [degree] views. Both are with videos in the background, media pieces that are very immersive, so you feel like you’re actually in space,” Saridakis told collectSPACE. “Radial lights extend in a line throughout the entire exhibit, and there are also lights in the display cases that harmonize with the background videos as you watch the footage of their launch, the time they spend floating through space, and the re-entry.”
Other artifacts at the Henry Crown Space Center also benefit from new effects. “Aurora 7” has its own video wall and a test object from the Apollo lunar module has been placed in a replica of its original environment.
“It is a fantastic, unique artifact as it is the only one used by all 12 astronauts. [to walk on the moon] to train at the Kennedy Space Center. We redesigned that space to look more like a training area rather than trying to portray the lunar module as if it were actually on the moon.”
Visitors to the Henry Crown Space Center can now also see tools and food used by Apollo-era astronauts, as well as a prototype garment and biofeedback belt worn by Mae Jemison, the first black American woman in space and a Chicago native.
Saridakis said she has more plans.
“Apollo and Mercury are on loan from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but we are definitely looking to add more space artifacts to our permanent collection here at the Museum of Science and Industry,” she said.