13 Incredible Space Museums in the U.S. Every Traveler Should Visit

"Located in Hutchinson, Kansas, this museum houses over 13,000 artifacts, and its collection is so large that it's only rivaled by the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. It also has the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow. There are five different venues here, but the main exhibit is the Hall of Space Museum, which focuses on the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the United States, with actual historic artifacts from around the world. The collection spans from World War II's V-1 flying bomb missile and V-2 rocket, which laid the groundwork for space travel, to Cold War spacecraft such as the Gemini 10, Liberty Bell 7, and a Soviet Vostok capsule. The Moonshot Gallery showcases one of the three Apollo White Rooms used for actual launches, flown Apollo spacesuits, the Apollo 13 Command Module Odyssey, and a moon rock. In the Grand Lobby, you can stand beneath a full-scale replica of the space shuttle Endeavour alongside a flown SR-71 Blackbird spy plane and a towering 109-foot-tall Titan rocket." - Iona Brannon Iona Brannon Iona Brannon is a journalist with a love for food and travel. Her work has appeared in Afar, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, and Business Insider, among other publications. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines