posted 12-25-2008 05:25 PM               

space ARTifacts: imagination and exploration
Museum of Natural History, Providence, RI
October 18, 2008 - June, 2009.

This innovative exhibition explores the relationship between humans and space travel through the eyes of science and art. Various technologies, such as spacesuits and probes, have allowed humans to explore deep into previously uncharted regions of space. Join us on a journey through the Museum's surrounding park landscape with unique video footage filmed using a fabricated satellite dish, created by artist and RISD alumnus, Steven Santaniello. The dish and its video footage, a NASA mission-used Space Shuttle tire, rare artifacts, rare NASA archive imagery, behind-the-scenes photos of NASA Johnson Space Flight Center (JSC), and Museum collections, are part of this exciting exhibit.

The NASA mission-used space shuttle tire is from the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-103 mission, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Visitors can touch and see the shuttle tire that was once in space orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 380 miles.

This exhibit was sponsored by NASA RI Space Grant Consortium (RISG) and developed in collaboration with the NASA Northeast Planetary Data Center at Brown University, Museum of Natural History, and artist Steven Santaniello.

A Rhode Island native, Steven Santaniello is an accomplished artist and designer. He earned his MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995 and was awarded the International Sculpture Center (ISC) Outstanding Student Achievement Award. His artistic vision for the exhibit displays were inspired by a visit to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His trip was sponsored by RISG.

Many of the supporting images you will see in this exhibit were prepared by the NASA Northeast Regional Planetary Data Center. The Data Center is a facility that manages image data obtained by the U.S. Space Program from 1962 to the present.

Museum Admission is $2 \ $1 children 2-7. Planetarium Admission (includes Museum admission) is $3 \ $2 children 4-7. No one under the age of 4 is permitted in the planetarium.

The Museum of Natural History is open daily 10:00am - 5:00pm, year round. Planetarium shows are offered on Saturdays and Sundays, and school holidays at 1:00pm and 2:00pm. Museum of Natural History is wheelchair accessible.