New NASA exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair

For Mike Lammers, deputy chief flight director at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, the Minnesota State Fair was a staple during his high school years. Lammers is an Albert Lea High School graduate but hasn’t visited the fair for about 20 years.

This year he’s back, talking to fairgoers about NASA and answering space-related questions.

Now, guests can get a feel for space without leaving Earth. The exhibition explores the evolution of spacesuits from past and present. A moon rock from the Apollo 15 mission is also displayed, and you can interact with members from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. But the exhibit is only available until Sunday and is located at the North End Event Center.

By Friday morning, the exhibit was already filled with State Fair enthusiasts.

“It looks like we’ve got plenty of people, and they’re all really interested,” Lammers said. “That’s always fun, right? You always like to come out and talk about your work, and what you do. The most fun part of my job is to talk to the public. They’re the people that we serve with all of this.

“The questions that people come up with are always very insightful. A lot of times when we talk to people, in some ways, there’s always this effort maybe to simplify, but in general, it’s really amazing how much some people are into space.”

Lammers knew he wanted to work with aircrafts after high school. He said he got a pilot’s license when he was 19 years old. But after a career spent training astronauts and running mission control, this trip took him back to Minnesota.

The Science Museum’s Journey to Space

Journey to Space, a Minnesota-built space exhibition that has been all over North America for the past 10 years, landed at the State Fair, too. It’ll be around for the entire duration of the State Fair.

The showcase dives into space exploration with multiple hands-on attractions. Displays include walking through a spacecraft tunnel, controlling two robotic arms and videos of space missions.

Gaea Dill-D’Ascoli, traveling fabricator at the Science Museum, said engagement has been great at the exhibition.

“It’s so great to see people excited about the exhibit, engaging with all these different things that we’ve been building and maintaining,” Dill-D’Ascoli said. “I’ve got a pretty close knowledge of some of these exhibits. I’ve been elbows deep in their guts, and it’s really awesome to see people just enjoying them.”

Dill-D’Ascoli said this is the first exhibition by the Science Museum at the fair, and it’s in high demand, as well.

“It’s booked until 2028,” Dill-D’Ascoli said.

She added that it took around two years of planning to bring the showcase to the fair.

“All of my work is on the road. I take this thing elsewhere. So it’s really cool to have it here and be able to say ‘yeah, come see this thing I’ve been working on for years, come experience this thing that I’m so connected to,’” Dill-D’Ascoli said.