Space Weather and Astronauts

We went to the Air and Space museum and were able to experience some hands on weather experiments.  It is great when we can follow up book learning with interesting field trips.  Both Allboy and Gbay Supreme made clouds and labeled each one.  They were also able to create weather inside of the museum and understand how it effects radiation on Earth.   But the best part of the day were the space exploration exhibits.  We went on a simulated Mars exploration and the kids got an idea of just how far away it is and the difference between Earth and Mars, both in climate and landforms.  Allboy remotely controlled a model of the Mars Rover and allowed it to examine rock and look for signs of life.  Gbaby Supreme enjoyed the planets and recognized some of them that we had learned about the week before.  We increased the pressure inside of a container so that they could force a star to explode.   The most interesting things for me were the examinations of our galaxy.  I never realized that we know about hundreds of Planets beside the 8 we all learn.  I wonder why we haven't named them or collected more information.  I also wonder at the chances of life on one of them.  We have recovered pictures from our probes but I really don't know much besides that.  There was also an exhibit where they showed us all the effects of 400 degrees below zero by using Nitrogen to freeze common items and what happens when they are exposed the extreme temperatures.   I didn't know that Oxygen turns to liquid, and never thought about all the material choices that need to be decided before building anything that is sent into space.  We also met an Astronaut who signed pictures of herself and gave a talk about life on the space shuttle.  The kids giggled at the idea that they had to wear diapers and that their favorite foods were pizza.   They also learned about mass and how gravity effects the astronauts bodies long term.  It puts a lot of stress on their bodies.  We talked again about mass and density when looking at models of the planets.  Even though Saturn is much larger than Earth, Earth actually weighs more.  I don't know that either boy understands density yet, but hopefully it built a future peg so that when they are older and more ready to learn about it, they will have some kind of reference for it. 
After the Science exhibits, we watched the Imax movie Legend of the Guardians in 3D.  I am not a fan of 3D, but this movie and that theater were very cool.  We could actually see each individual feather on the owls.  I didn't know that Owls could look both cuddly and scary at the same time.  We also went to dinner at the Crab Shack and Allboy finally got his steamed crabs.  It was a long day but a good one.