Boeing… Rocketing Into Focus (Exhibits)

[SatNews] Boeing [NYSE: BA], Taco Bell Discovery Science Center, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, have announced they are developing the center’s latest addition — Boeing Rocket Lab will open to the public on July 2. Built inside the center’s 8,000-square-foot “cube,” Boeing Rocket Lab will feature interactive exhibits designed to educate visitors on rocket science.

Suspended high inside the cube is a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68 main rocket engine, the engine that powers the Boeing Delta IV family of rockets. Standing underneath the engine’s nozzle in the “Blast-Off Zone” exhibit, guests will experience the sensation of a rocket launch through fog, light, sound and video effects. A “Rocket Fuel” station will educate visitors on the chemistry of rocket fuels, why the RS-68 uses a mix of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and how environmentally friendly steam becomes the byproduct when the two elements combine.

“Air and Water Rocket Launch” stations will allow guests to launch rockets using compressed air or compressed air and water. Air rockets are launched by a hand pump and can soar up to 65 feet along guide cables. Air and water rockets are launched with the push of a button; launch height is determined by the ratio of air to water. Taco Bell Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, Calif., is Orange County’s only Smithsonian Affiliate. Some of the exhibits that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year include Dino Quest, a hurricane simulator, and The Science of Hockey. For more information, visit www.discoverycube.org.


The California Cultural and Historical Endowment makes grants and loans to preserve culturally significant aspects of life during various periods of California history, including architecture, economic activities, art, recreation, and transportation; and to unique, identifiable ethnic and other communities that have added significant elements to California’s culture. A priority of the endowment is to fund projects that preserve aspects of California’s history that are absent or underrepresented in existing historical parks and museums.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines. For more information, visit www.prattwhitneyrocketdyne.com.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft.