Grissom Days at Spring Mill State Park

Gus Grissom Days

Join us as Spring Mill State Park honors local astronaut, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom! This weekend is packed full of space fun!

Saturday, July 16th

8am-4pm: Gus Grissom Memorial Open
9am: Grissom Memorial Guided Tour. 30 minutes.
9am-10:30am: Rocketry Club, Count Down Cardinals, will have a table set up and can assist you in building your own rocket that can be launched later in the day! *Cost associated with this activity.
9am-11am: Hidden Artifacts Revealed – see Gus artifacts that are rarely viewed by the public.
9:30am: Cosmic Cuisine. Learn about food in space. Sample freeze dried ice cream. 30 minutes
10am: Moon Phases -Join Naturalist Morgan to discover the Moons phases and make your own slider that shows the phases. Meet at the Grissom Memorial. 15 minutes.
10am-2pm: Lawrence County Tourism Booth
10am-4pm: Grissom Memorial Scavenger Hunt—Earn a NASA/space sticker
10pm–4pm: Make your own astronaut patch!: Join Naturalist Emilie and learn about the patches that astronauts earn, Gus Grissom’s patches, and make your own!
10:30-11:30: Corvette Show! Gus Grissom owned and loved his 1967 corvette convertible. Come check out some fine corvettes in the back parking lot of Grissom Memorial. Courtesy of Christian Vette Club & Southern Indiana Vette Club
11am: Real Rocket Launches at Sycamore Shelter by the National Association of Rocketry – Count Down Cardinals, from Bloomington, Indiana
1pm: Guided Tour of Memorial. 30 minutes
1pm-2pm: Bottle Rocket Racing. Add fins and designs to your rocket before blasting it off. You may get wet when it launches!
1pm– 4pm: Rocketry Club, Count Down Cardinals, will have a table set up and can assist you in building your own rocket that can be launched tomorrow morning! *Cost associated with this activity.
2pm– 3pm: Join artist and space enthusiast, Joy Hernandez to learn about Bean the Astronaut. Make your own astronaut. Coloring pages of Bean available.
3pm: Guided Tour of Memorial. 30 minutes
5pm: Real Rocket Launches at Sycamore Shelter by the National Association of Rocketry – Count Down Cardinals, from Bloomington, Indiana
9:30pm: Star Gazing on the lawn at Sycamore Shelter – Bring a lawn chair or blanket and join the naturalist on the lawn near Sycamore Shelter to experience the beauty of the night sky. Hear some Greek stories of the stars. Glow in the dark game & glow sticks available for children. 1 hour

Sunday, July 17th

All activities and programs are at Grissom Memorial unless otherwise stated in the description.
8am-4pm: Gus Grissom Memorial Open
9am: Astronomy Bingo! Join the Naturalist for a game of Bingo! Learn some important parts of our solar system and some astronomy facts. 25 minutes.
9am-10:30am: Rocketry Club, Count Down Cardinals, will have a table set up and can assist you in building your own rocket. *Cost associated with this activity.
9am-11am: Hidden Artifacts Revealed – see Gus artifacts that are rarely viewed by the public
9:30am: Moon Phases -Join Naturalist Morgan to discover the Moons phases and make your own slider that shows the phases. 25 minutes.
10am-2pm: Grissom Memorial Scavenger Hunt—Earn a NASA/space sticker
10am–2pm: Make your own astronaut patch!: Learn about the patches that astronauts earn, Gus Grissom’s patches, and make your own!
11am: Rocket Launches at Sycamore Shelter by the National Association of Rocketry – Count Down Cardinals, from Bloomington, Indiana
1pm-2pm: Bottle Rocket Racing. Add fins and designs to your rocket before blasting it off. You may get wet when it launches!
2pm: Guided Tour of Memoria