Onizuka Space Center

Onizuka Space Center - darkometer rating : 2 - A cute little museum in Kona, Hawaii , about space exploration. It is named after Hawaii-born astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka, who – and here comes the dark bit – perished in the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986. Other space-exploration tragedies are covered as well, even though the main “message” of the museum is rather positive and a celebration of the space age. > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos What there is to see: The museum is quite small, and part of it resembles a slightly chaotic jumble room, where children's toys rub shoulders with serious scientific instruments and charts. I found it quite endearing from the start. The museum staff were also extremely friendly and welcoming! The exhibition starts off as you might have predicted, with a section honouring its hero Ellison S. Onizuka. There are photos from different stages of his life, including on board a previous shuttle mission – eating space food with chopsticks (true to his Japanese ancestry). Furthermore there's a bust of the man, a large panel with some encouraging words of wisdom by him, and a small model of the space shuttle that he perished in. Also honoured are the other six astronauts on board that fateful flight of January 1986, as well as those who died in other NASA disasters, esp. Apollo 1 (1967) and the Columbia space shuttle (2003). The next section is more uplifting and chronicles the whole history of manned space flight, in particular the highly successful Apollo programme and the moon landings. They even have a genuine piece of moon rock on display! It was collected on the final landing by Apollo 17 in 1972.