The Columbia Memorial Space Center (CMSC) is a science museum in the Los Angeles area, at 12400 Columbia Way, City of Downey, California, US. It is owned and operated by Downey, and open to the general public as a hands-on space museum and activity center.[2]
Mission
The center's stated mission is to "ignite people's passion in science, technology, engineering, and space while honoring Downey's aerospace history."[2]
History
The site of the museum is the former Boeing/Rockwell/North American plant where all of the Apollo Command/Service Modules were built and the Space Shuttle was conceived. In 1999, when the Downey Plant closed, the City of Downey began a redevelopment effort, including an educational component. In early 2007, a builder — Tower General Contractors — was selected, and ground was broken on April 12, 2007, on the 18,000 square foot project.[3]
STS-107 mission insignia
First opened in 2008, CMSC is recognized as the National Memorial to the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew that was lost on STS-107.[4][5]
On November 7, 2008, a propane tank exploded during the filming of an episode of the television series Bones, causing an electrical fire, without damage to the museum.[6]
In 2012, the first "Space Shuttle" – a wood and plastic full-scale mockup built by North American Rockwell in 1972 – was placed on temporary display at the center.[8] Dubbed the "Space Shuttle Inspiration", it was disassembled and stored in early 2014.[9]
In front of the center, a dummy "boilerplate" Apollo command capsule, BP-12, is on display. This was the first Apollo capsule to fly,[10] and is now owned by the City of Downey.[11] The center also owns Apollo Boilerplate BP-19A,[12] which is in storage as of 2018.