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Texas Museum of Science and Technology

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Location
  
Cedar Park, Texas

Director
  
Torvald Hessel

Established
  
March 2015

Type
  
Science museum

Website
  
www.txmost.org

Phone
  
+1 512-961-5333

Texas Museum of Science and Technology

Address
  
1220 Toro Grande Blvd, Cedar Park, TX 78613, USA

Hours
  
Open today · 10AM–6PMTexas Independence Day might affect these hoursThursday(Texas Independence Day)10AM–6PMHours might differFriday10AM–9PMSaturday10AM–9PMSunday11AM–6PMMonday10AM–6PMTuesday10AM–6PMWednesday10AM–6PM

Similar
  
Brushy Creek Lake Park, Cedar Park Center, Austin Children's Museum, Lake Travis Zipline Adventures, Austin Aquarium

Profiles

Nature and science museum austin tx


The Texas Museum of Science & Technology (TXMOST) opened in March 2015 in an interim facility in Cedar Park, Texas, with the vision of creating a destination science and technology center for the Central Texas area, and inspiring and educating both schoolchildren and the general community in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. TXMOST is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Contents

The museum houses the Austin area’s first planetarium, traveling exhibitions, and the permanent Timewalk exhibit, created from a gift of fossil and dinosaur bone collections which has toured the world. Plans for the interim facility include expanding the mobile planetarium outreach programs, conducting field trips and summer/holiday camps, and building a collection of permanent exhibits about science and technology.

History

Founded initially as the "Friends of the Austin Planetarium," then later shortened to Austin Planetarium, the project began its operations in the area by offering an outreach program through its mobile planetarium project. Due to the success of the program, support developed for a permanent facility for science and technology education.

On March 20, 2015, an interim facility (~30,000 sq ft) was opened to the public and the organization's name was changed to the Texas Museum of Science & Technology. The museum is the first of its kind in Central Texas, an area that is home to many companies and organizations related to science and technology.

In spite of the greater Austin area being a center for technology startups and science research, before the opening of the museum it was one of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas that did not have a museum dedicated to either field.

Current

As of early 2017, TXMOST’s two permanent exhibit spaces contain the 33 ft planetarium, with star shows running throughout the day; and the Timewalk exhibit, which showcases life on Earth from the earliest fossils to the Age of Mammals. The traveling exhibit space has Tutankhamun: “Wonderful Things” from the Pharaoh’s Tomb, which will be on display through mid-summer 2017.

Past

Body Worlds - the Cycle of Life was the main exhibit at the opening of the museum, and remained until November, 2015. In addition, TXMOST, in partnership with the Exploratorium, displayed a number of hands-on science exhibits demonstrating aspects of physics such as light or sound. The museum also hosted a traveling exhibit from NASA’s Johnson Space Center that explored space exploration and celebrated the opening of the museum’s 33 ft digital planetarium, and displayed the Nikon Small World Microphotography Competition winners for 2015.

Affiliations

The Texas Museum of Science & Technology is a member of:

  • Austin Museum Partnership (AMP)
  • Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations (TANO)]
  • South-Western Association of Planetariums (SWAP)
  • International Planetarium Society
  • Association of Science-Technology Centers
  • References

    Texas Museum of Science and Technology Wikipedia