CORNING — Perhaps the most famous artifact at the Corning Museum of Glass is the first failed cast for the giant mirror blank the company made 80 years ago and which is still used in the deep space telescope at Mount Palomar observatory in California.
Glass from Corning has long been used in the space program, and Sunday, children and families got a close look at that connection during the mueseum’s Families Explore: Space program.
“We try to present a program related to glass, usually from a country. Today it was space,” said Mieke Fay, one of the program managers at the museum. “The connection to space is really easy. There is lots of glass in telescopes and mirrors and other applications.”
The event featured displays set up by the astronomy department at Cornell University. The National Soaring Museum brought a soaring flight simulator and the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center provided remote-controlled robots similar to those used by the Mars Rover.
Children also got to create their own satellites, color planets and other space objects, and take part in other hands-on activities.
“We’ve been here a lot of times but this is our first time to Families Explore,” said Christie Fedele, of Horseheads, who brought her young sons James and Andrew to take part in the program.
“I’m a teacher and I used to bring my classes here,” Fedele said. “It’s really nice to be able to bring my own kids here.”
