Galactic Getaway: Bringing Free, Museum-Quality Rocket Exhibits to Every Community
Museum-quality space education is not equally distributed. Galactic Getaway closes that gap by bringing exhibits to underserved Bay Area communities and Stanford, sparking curiosity in 60,000+ minds from a Pittsburg six-year-old pressing her face against the glass to Stanford professors.
A child in Pittsburg (CA) and one in Palo Alto live thirty miles apart. But museum-quality science does not reach them equally. Space still feels like someone else’s story in underserved communities. So I went looking for a way to close that distance.
I founded Galactic Getaway to bring free, museum-quality rocket model exhibits into public libraries across the Bay Area. I raised over $27,000, sourced models from international fabricators, and installed exhibits in 18+ venues reaching over 60,000 people in cities like Pittsburg, San Lorenzo, and Milpitas where hands-on STEM access is limited.
The response surprised me every time. Families returned specifically to revisit. Libraries restocked space book sections because visitors checked out every title. Kids who had never asked a science question stayed thirty minutes asking me questions they did not know they had. The exhibit ended but the curiosity did not.
Stanford’s Aeronautics and Astronautics department invited me to install twice. That recognition opened doors, but what mattered more was what it made possible. I am now collaborating with Stanford researchers to study whether AI-powered smart glasses improve how visitors engage with exhibits. If the data says yes, that is not just a finding. That is the blueprint for taking this to every library in America.
The project has been recognized by the California Governor, the Secretary of State, Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, and multiple city mayors.
This started in one library. It belongs in every library, school and college in America.