Kayce S.
Yelp
I was actually pretty pleasantly surprised at the quality and number of exhibits in the lobby area, for such a small (and inexpensive!) space center. Regular admission is $3-$6 I think, but they are part of the ASTC passport program (http://www.astc.org/sciencecenters/passlist_about.htm) so we got in free, woo! Plenty of cool stuff to do and see here; everything appears to be pretty new, there's lots of technology being used for the exhibits (versus walking around reading stuff and looking at pictures, which holds the interest of the little ones for about 0.2 seconds), and most of it is in pretty decent working order still.
Included in the price of admission are a set of 4 fighter jet simulators (two weren't working when we did them, but I later saw all four running just fine so maybe they just needed a reboot?) that are networked so you can play against your friends, a shuttle landing simulator which isn't nearly as easy as it looks (I haven't had a successful landing yet), 4 remote control "mars rovers" (though only 2 were functional) with a neat little landscape to drive them around in, a green screen that lets you be the weather forecaster (pro tip - a bright green hoodie on your kid makes this a LOT more fun than it should be - ahhhh, floating heads!!! *laughing*), an infrared imaging display with a working camera and monitor, plus some interactive displays on the space shuttle, the planets, rocket launches, etc, and a tiny little gift shop as well. According to the website there's a solar telescope there somewhere, but I forgot to ask about it (sacrilege!) and there wasn't any obvious signage so I'm not sure if it's open to the general public or not.
There is also a planetarium here with a few different features showing throughout the day, every hour. Our discounted ASTC rate was three bucks a head, but I'm sure it can't be much more than that full price. The dome itself is big and beautiful and fabulous, but the seating arrangement is almost all a little too far forward for my liking. And the guy doing the shows didn't say JACK to us, which is a far cry from the awesome planetarium experience I'm used to at home (review forthcoming, haha).
All in all, a great way to spend the afternoon if you find yourself in Columbus that won't break the bank, even at full price. And even if you're not a huge space geek like I am. Ahem. :)