LI Astronaut Kicks Off NASA Hubble Telescope Exhibit At LI Museum

GARDEN CITY, NY—Science fans, both kids and adults, can now visit an interactive exhibit at Garden City's Cradle of Aviation Museum that lets visitors explore deep space. The Hubble Traveling Exhibit rotates between museums, and will be on Long Island until April.

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino is a Franklin Square native who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. He visited the exhibit on its opening day Wednesday, posting on Twitter that it had "lots of great info and artifacts, including some of the tools I used in space to repair the telescope. It was a nostalgic and wonderful experience for me."

The 2,200-square-foot exhibit is designed to immerse visitors in the history of the Hubble mission. There is a scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope and other units that people can interact with. There are real pictures taken by Hubble of planets, galaxies and black holes.

Massimino has said in interviews that he vowed to become an astronaut when, as a child, he saw the moon landing on TV, and the advancement happening in the aerospace industry around him on Long Island. He's now passionate about inspiring the next generation of children to take an interest in exploration and outer space, maybe some of them visiting this very exhibit.

"I remember the buildup to the mission that summer, and I remember watching the launch from my summer recreation program at my elementary school in Long Island. I went outside and looked up at the moon thinking, 'There are people on it.' I wanted to be one of those guys."