First time in the Southeast, expected to impact tourism throughout Alabama

HUNTSVILLE, AL – The U.S. Space & Rocket Center® today kicked off a one-year campaign to welcome its newest exhibit to Alabama’s top tourist attraction: the world renowned Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit, presented by Bose Corporation.

“We’ve got a year to get ready, so we’re going to have some fun with it,” says Larry Capps, the Space & Rocket Center’s CEO. “I suspect you may see some of the Star Wars characters pop up at venues across the state and all around the Southeast promoting this,” he adds.

At 12,000 square feet, it’s the largest temporary exhibit in the Space Center’s history. It will fill the Center’s original museum building with costumes, models and props from all six movies in the Star Wars saga, along with many interactive exhibits, hands-on displays and laboratories — where guests can conduct their own scientific experiments on magnetic levitation and experience augmented virtual reality. Even a replica of the Millennium Falcon cockpit will be a part of the exhibit, where guests can experience a multimedia presentation about making the jump to lightspeed!

“This is a major coup for us. We’ve wanted this exhibit here for several years, and we’re delighted to be able to bring it to the Space & Rocket Center,” Capps said. In fact, it’s a coup for all of Alabama. The Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit is expected to draw thousands of additional visitors, which could translate into a substantial increase in sales for area hotels, restaurants and other attractions. Space Center officials are teaming up with the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, the North Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, and the Alabama Department of Tourism to maximize the potential benefit statewide, as an effort to bring vacationing families to Alabama next summer.

“From the mountains to the beaches, from Shakespeare to the space program, there’s so much to see and do in Alabama,” according to Holly Beach, the USSRC’s Vice President of Marketing. “We see this as a means of bringing in additional families to spend a night or two here in North Alabama, and then perhaps continue their vacation through Birmingham, Montgomery, right down to the beaches,” she adds.

“We also anticipate a lot of families will schedule their time at Space Camp around a visit just to see this exhibit,” Beach said. She added, “You’d be amazed at how many parents drive their children to our camp, drop them off, and then spend the week in Florida or somewhere else before coming back for graduation. This gives us a better chance to direct them to some of the other attractions in Alabama, and keep them in Alabama a little longer.”

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is the first exhibition of its kind, combining costumes and important props from all six Star Wars films with real-world technologies as well as video interviews with the filmmakers, scientists and engineers. It includes design labs where visitors will get to build and test speeders and robots. Visitors will be able to see footage from the Star Wars saga and investigate the numerous parallels between technologies in the films and those in the real world. They will explore amazing prototypes in progress and learn about the engineers and designers who are creating new technologies. Throughout the exhibit, visitors will notice intriguing similarities between how scientists and filmmakers think.

The 501st Legion, an international fan-based organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of various characters from the Star Wars movies, with members all across the Southeast, has been enlisted to help support the Space Center’s efforts to promote the exhibit. Current plans call for their members to appear at various venues in costume.

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination opens June 25, 2010 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Ticket information will be available at www.spacecamp.com.

(NOTE: The contact for this release is Al Whitaker, Media Relations Manager, U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama. 256-721-7160. Email: media@spacecamp.com. Additional information and photos available for your unrestricted use can be downloaded from www.spacecamp.com/media/starwars )

“STAR WARS: WHERE SCIENCE MEETS IMAGINATION,” presented by Bose Corporation, was developed by the Museum of Science, Boston and Lucasfilm Ltd. Star Wars objects in this exhibition are on loan from the Archives of Lucasfilm, Ltd. This exhibition is made possible through the cooperation of Lucasfilm Ltd. Lucasfilm Ltd: © 2010 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0307875. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.