Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

The Museum of Science and Industry is the largest science museum in the western hemisphere, showcasing permanent and rotating exhibitions on science, industry and their intersections and histories. There are more than 35,000 artifacts and nearly 14 acres of hands-on exhibits housed in the Museum.
Permanent installations include a captured WWII German submarine, The Pioneer Zephyr (one of America’s first diesel-electric streamlined passenger trains), the Apollo 8 spacecraft, and a real United Airlines Boeing 727 that hangs from the balcony and is accessible to visitors.
The Transportation Gallery houses artifacts from the history of human transportation, from locomotives to planes and notable automobiles. Another permanent feature, "The Great Train Story," is a model railroad that runs over 20 model trains through scaled replicas of Chicago, Seattle, the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains the Midwest.
The Museum is also home to Chicago's only five-story, domed, wrap-around theater. The Omnimax Theater features educational films that bring you on a scientific adventure. The wrap-around theater makes you feel as if you are holding the camera and traveling wherever the film is set, whether through space or the coral reef.
The museum is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood and housed in the last remaining building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition. The museum is easily accessbile from multiple Chicago bus routes, which often run directly to the museum from various points downtown.
The Museum of Science and Industry provides both young and old with a fun way to explore science. Visitors should expect to spend a few hours, if not the day, exploring this house of science and adventure.