About Great Lakes Science Center
The Great Lakes Science Center is the 375,000-square-foot interactive science museum on North Coast Harbor, immediately east of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Opened July 1996, it combines traditional science-museum exhibits with Cleveland-specific content (NASA Glenn Visitor Center, Great Lakes ecology) and a domed OMNIMAX theater. Annual attendance runs roughly 300,000.
History
A Sibling to the Rock Hall
The Science Center was conceived as part of the same North Coast Harbor cultural-corridor strategy that produced the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Civic planning for both projects began in the mid-1980s under Mayor Voinovich, with the intention that the two institutions — one music, one science — would function together as downtown Cleveland's lakefront anchor and as a draw for family tourism distinct from the city's sports and convention infrastructure.
Designed by E. Verner Johnson and Associates, the building was completed in phases between 1992 and 1996 and opened to the public on July 1, 1996 — ten months after the Rock Hall's opening the previous September. The building's most visible feature, the 320-foot-diameter OMNIMAX dome, was built into the eastern end of the complex.
NASA Glenn
The Local Space Agency
NASA Glenn Research Center, located at Cleveland Hopkins Airport on the city's southwest side, has been a major federal research installation since 1941. In 2010, NASA consolidated its public-facing operation into a new NASA Glenn Visitor Center housed within the Science Center. The move substantially expanded the museum's aerospace exhibits, including an Apollo-era command module, a full-scale Skylab mockup, and rotating exhibits on current NASA missions.
The partnership gives the Science Center one of the most substantial aerospace collections outside of Smithsonian facilities and the Houston and Kennedy space centers.
Today
An Educational Anchor
The Science Center serves roughly 300,000 visitors annually, making it one of the most-visited museums in Ohio. School-group programming is a significant component of its operations, drawing students from across the Greater Cleveland region and northeast Ohio.
The adjoining Steamship William G. Mather, a preserved 1925 Great Lakes ore carrier permanently moored to the Science Center's east face, operates as a floating museum and is included in the Science Center's admission.
Nearby on the Shoreline