Review: U.S. Space & Rocket Center Summer Pass
Huntsville’s own U.S. Space & Rocket Center has quite an offer for you. Spend just $40 and get a summer pass to the museum good for you and two children, Sunday through Thursday, until Labor Day. You can add another adult for just $10. You can also upgrade to a full Pathfinder Membership for just another $60.
So you probably already know that the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is one of the premier space flight museums in the world. But what else can you do with a summer pass?
For one thing, the Center has two free film series this summer. A children’s science fiction movie is featured every Wednesday morning at 9:00, through the end of July. An adult science fiction movie is featured every Thursday evening at 7:00, through the end of June. You can review the scheduled lineup here.
Both film series are presented in the Saturn V Hall Digital Theater inside the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, where you’ll enjoy excellent projection and sound, as well as a spacious seat. Seating is first come first serve, so plan to arrive a few minutes early if you have strong views on where to sit in a movie.
(I’m definitely not judging. I have such views.)
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The film series are free to the public. However, your summer pass gets you access to the free children’s workshop immediately following the Wednesday morning feature. With a theme of Rockets & Robots, if your children are into the museum itself, they’ll definitely be into the scheduled activities.
This week my boys and I built models of robotic hands. These are patterned after the hands on Robonaut 2, the first anthropomorphic robot to work on the International Space Station.
The activities are designed to last an hour. Please plan to remain with your children.
After some lunch at the Mars Grill, we took in the Center’s current traveling exhibit Black Holes: Space Warps & Time Twists. Featuring a dozen or so interactive stations, the exhibit does a good job engaging a wide age range. Both my 8-year-old and 11-year-old were enthralled, and I’d have no trouble tacking on a couple of years either way.
The exhibit educates, but with humor and awe. One interesting wrinkle is the Explorer’s Card. Take a couple of minutes to create one (complete with a potentially humorous nickname for yourself, and a goofy-as-you-want-to-make-it photo).
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Then, you can insert it into the stations equipped for such, and save what you do at that station to access later on the Internet, using the URL and login ID printed on the card. I love the added value here. For a fascinated child, continuing the adventure at home is a sizable bonus.
The stations present a good mix of the whimsical and educational, and it’s easy to lose a couple of hours in here. The interactivity and approachability are both impressive.
A summer pass at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center gives you a lot of access to a world-class museum, but also adds some engaging options for your children this summer. It deserves your serious consideration.
Details
Location: One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 35805
Phone: 1-800-637-7223
Website: https://rocketcenter.com/summerpass
Admission: $40.00 admits 1 adult and 2 children, Sunday through Thursday, through September 3
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We love having this museum so close to home!
My son is special needs and he would love this!!!! Thank u soo much!!!!!!
We love the Space and Rocket Center!!
I would take my two girls who (after 2 weeks out of school) are ready to start doing stuff)
We love this museum!
I have never been to the space and rocket center as a adult and i have had the pleasure if taking my son who is 7 yet :(, cause the passes were so expensive. But i would be taking my son(7), my stepson(5), my nephew (5), and my babygirl (11months).
Great article! I haven’t been yet due to how expensive it is but can’t wait to take my twins to see rockets. They will love it
Thank you, Lori!
I love everything this museum has to offer. My first “official” job was in the gift shops as a newly-driving 16 year old. My 4 year old also loves the space center and he’s the one I would take most often.
Thanks, Bo. Great review!
Thanks much, Wendy. Excited to be here!
Our favorite exhibit has been Star Wars – hands down!! My kids would love to take my mom and dad to the USSRC this summer while they visit Huntsville.
Sad to say but I have lived in the area for YEARS and have never been to the Space and Rocket Center. The kid in me would love to have that experience and I would gladly share it with my four wonderful kids.
My kids love the rock wall!
We went to the Egg and Meteor Hunt this spring and my kids loved seeing the rockets outside..they would enjoy the exhibits inside too! The summer pass is a great idea.
I love the Space and Rocket Center. I can’t wait to introduce my little man to this wonderful place.
Sad to say but I have lived in the Rocket City for years and have NEVER had the experience of going to the USSRC. The kid in me would love to have that chance and I would gladly share it with my four wonderful children.
My son loves going to the USSRC. We have seen a couple of Imax movies there and they were great!
Sounds awesome!
What a treasure to share with family and friends
We love the star wars exhibit that came and the woolly mammoth one last year.
The Star Wars exhibit was great. I like the moon buggy too.
I would love to take my 4 yr old!
Thank you so much for your blog. I love all the great information you provide! We can’t wait to visit the Rocket center.
I would take my 4 kids!
The Mars exhibit is great! I would take my 11 YR old if I won. He loves learning about astronomy!
My kids have been begging to go back!
my two boys would love it if i won a summer pass!
We would have loved to see the Star Wars exhibit when it came but we didn’t get to go. We have taken the kids once and they had allot of fun.
My daughter loves the climbing wall! I love the IMAX movies!
Looking forward to taking my kids! They had a blast last year
Great article Bo! Had a summer pass last year. My boys (6 and 4 then) LOVED it and have been asking all winter when we get to go back. We went once or more a week, and they never got bored.
Thank you, Kristen! Good to “see” you here.
My son loves to visit the Space center!
Love the space center, I’d take my 3 boys!! LoTs of cool exhitbitsexhibits hard to chose one!!
We love the exhibit featuring Von Braun and all of his accomplishments. He is a true pioneer of space travel and such an inspiration to keep on moving forward with space exploration. He makes science COOL!
We plan to take our out of town guests to blow their minds!
My children especially enjoy the rides at the Space and Rocket Center.
We have never made it to the Rocket Center – it’s on our wish list for sure! I would take all three of my children – but I have a feeling my middle daughter would love it best. We moved here recently and she is constantly trying to weigh which place is better – El Paso had her grandpa, but Huntsville has a rocket! Tough decision for this kid!! 🙂
This grandmother and her two grandchildren, 5 & 7, would love to have a summer pass to The Space and Rocket Center!
Would love to take my daughter!
My kids could ride the rides all day long! What a great way to spend the summer with grandma!
We love the USSRC! Our kids love everything with rockets!
The Space and Rocket Center is great. What a treasure to have 10 minutes from home!
Would love to take my 2!!!
I love the IMAX movies and the Shuttle display in rocket park.
We’ve never been but this summer would be perfect for our daughter and niece to go!
The pass is worth the money just for the indoor play space at the Davidson Center.
My kids love The Space and Rocket Center!! Every time they see the rocket, they ask when we are going back!!
Great article! It’s a wonderful thing to have such a great museum/icon so close. I have 4 children and they would all find something interesting to do.
Thank you, Michelle! Yup, it’s an awesome place.
It has been a long time since I have been. My two girls have never been. I would love to take my two girls ages 4 & 9.
My two children would love this place . What a great way to learn while having fun !
My two children would love this place . What a great way to learn while having fun ! Would love to take them !
My favorite exhibit is just walking underneath the Saturn V and marveling at it up close. I’d bring my two sets of twins (8 and 4 years old).
We loved the dinosaurs! Haven’t been back since.
When we drive by the big Space Ships my kids always start to yell, ‘MAWM, LOOK!!’ Would love to take my two kids to finally see whats inside those big Rockets and Space Ships.
My boys and I were extras in Space Warriors when it filmed at the SRC last summer, and they wanted to explore the entire time! I grew up with the SRC and am excited about the changes it has made.
We haven’t been to The Space and Rocket Center as a family for years. It would be great to go back and spend some quality family time.
It’s been too long since I’ve been to the Space & Rocket Center. I’ve got to take my 4 year old son soon!
My kids love the Mission to Mars ride at the Space Center. Grampa will be watching the boys for a few days, so I will definitely be getting him the extra person pass! He’ll be so excited.
We love the rocket center! I like seeing the different traveling exhibits. This one sounds great.
Sounds like a great program for summer! Can’t wait to take advantage of the movies.
Sounds like fun!
We really enjoyed the Mastodon exhibit last year and love to see the history behind our space program.
I have never been to the USSRC. I would love to be able to go and take my neice. I know she would love it!!!!!
We love the rocket center. Hsv is an awesome place to live with such fun things to do.
We just moved here and are looking forward to visiting the museum. Sounds like a lot of fun!
Just a note reminding you that if you purchased a Summer Pass, you have through Labor Day to upgrade it to a Pathfinder family membership for $60 ($40 off the normal price). Just got back from upgrading mine!
I worked here as a teenager in the 70s, I was very dissapointed in what i saw after all these years, the original building is a mess, it used to be so open and airy and the upper floors arnt even open anymore. where are all the spacesuits, the russian mockups, the astronomy exibits,ect. The new Davidson center is fine but the Rocket park is a disaster, its time for new leadership out there. what has rock climbing ,dinosaurs and the other offbeat exibits have to do with space travel ,rockets or missles.