Are We There Yet – Beam Me Up, Scottie: Laval, Quebec

Star Trek comes to mind as we move down the sterile white space capsule-like hallway, opening sliding doors with our programmed wristbands. Inside rooms, glowing computer screens with glowing green buttons welcome us with interactive problem solving games about space, specifically building a colony on Mars.

This is one of three 60-minute ‘virtual missions’ new at the Cosmodome, the Space Science Centre, Canada’s only space museum, located in Laval, Quebec. Yes, Laval, about 20-minutes from Montreal, has one of the coolest science museums a kid (or grown up) can visit.

Outer space enthusiasts easily spend a day here, first moving through the video guided ‘mission’ then the rest of the museum: travel like an astronaut aboard a replica space shuttle, grab the controls of the Canadarm, and feel what it’s like to walk on the moon in an anti-gravity harness. This museum is about participating and fully experiencing the challenges of studying space.

Then get a close look at all eight solar system planets in the permanent exhibition filled with scale models eerily lit. Finally, end your day behind a pair of virtual reality googles feeling what it’s like to ride a roller coaster in a stationary chair, or take off in a shuttle on a space mission.

Special note: Cosmodome is the only Canadian museum offering summer space and robotics camp – day-only camp for five to fifteen year olds, or three or six-day overnight camp for nine to fifteen year olds. (www.cosmodome.org)

Sherri Telenko is a freelance writer and blogger living in Southern Ontario. Sign up for travel ideas at www.dogtrotting.net or follow her on twitter @SherriTelenko.

 

Sherri Telenko is a freelance writer and blogger living in Southern Ontario. Sign up for travel ideas at www.dogtrotting.net or follow her on twitter @SherriTelenko.