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Michigan Space and Science Center

The "old" Michigan Space & Science Center was located on the grounds of Jackson Community College in Jackson, MI. The MSSC closed in December 2003 and its building is now a "Community Events Center."

We first visited the MSSC in fall of 2002, with a return trip in 2003. After the museum's closing later in 2003, Apollo 9 was moved, with reports of its arrival at the San Diego Aerospace Museum in May 2004 and its subsequent preparation for display several months later on collectSPACE. The Kalamazoo Air Zoo inherited most of the MSSC's artifacts (other than Apollo 9, of course) and planned to build a new Michigan Space and Science Center. As of January 2009, the planned new building was put on hold due to fund raising shortfalls, with only some of the major artifacts on display.

Here is the Google Maps aerial view of it as it is today. The red, pentagon-shaped building was the museum proper (it was white when it was the MSSC; it appears to have been painted red sometime in 2011). Today a parking lot has paved over the four concrete pads on which the F-1 engine, J-2 engine, A-7 engine, and Pegasus micrometeoroid satellite formerly sat, as well as sidewalk leading to the building on which the Mercury-Redstone sat. I've prepared a page of Michigan Space & Science Center aerial photos showing what the aerial coverage looked like when it was still the MSSC.

As I said, we visited in fall 2002 and spring 2003. This was before my obsession with taking tremendous numbers of detailed pictures had fully developed, so this collection of photos is much smaller than that from other museums.

I found two diagrams of the interior of the MSSC, somewhere on the Internet. I'm pretty sure that they weren't on the official MSSC site, and I'm pretty sure that I found them after it was closed.

I arranged the photos of artifacts inside the museum based on my interpretation of these maps.

 
Michigan Space & Science Center
Michigan Space & Science Center
Mercury-Redstone
Mercury-Redstone
F-1 Engine
F-1 Engine
J-2 Engine
J-2 Engine
A-7 Engine
A-7 Engine
Pegasus Micrometeoroid Satellite
Pegasus Micrometeoroid Satellite
S-I Model
S-I Model
Astronaut Memorial
Astronaut Memorial
Mercury Exhibit
Mercury Exhibit
Apollo 9
Apollo 9
Apollo Developmental Ring Sail Parachute
Apollo Developmental Ring Sail Parachute
Apollo 9 Overview
Apollo 9 Overview
Apollo Heat Shield
Apollo Heat Shield
Ascent Propulsion System
Ascent Propulsion System
Skylab Artifacts
Skylab Artifacts
Apollo-Soyuz Model
Apollo-Soyuz Model
Experiment Packages
Experiment Packages
PLSS
PLSS
Surveyor Model
Surveyor Model
VAB Model
VAB Model
Apollo 10 Hatch
Apollo 10 Hatch
McDivitt's Apollo 9 Suit
McDivitt's Apollo 9 Suit
Alan Bean's ASTP A7L Suit
Alan Bean's ASTP A7L Suit
Mattingly's Apollo 13 Suit
Mattingly's Apollo 13 Suit
Young's Apollo 10 Inflight Coverall Garment
Young's Apollo 10 Inflight Coverall Garment
Gemini Simulator
Gemini Simulator
Atlas Launch Console
Atlas Launch Console
Gemini Model
Gemini Model
Mercury Suit
Mercury Suit
Kaleri's Soyuz TM-30 Sokol Suit
Kaleri's Soyuz TM-30 Sokol Suit
Apollo Artifacts
Apollo Artifacts
Moon Rock
Moon Rock
Models
Models