Galactic Getaway Brings Free Rocket Exhibit To Fremont Main Library

"Sparking that curiosity is the most satisfying thing I've ever been part of," the exhibit's creator said.

By Fernando Haro, Patch Staff

Oct 8, 2026 8:23 AM PDT | Updated Oct 8, 2026 8:28 AM PDT

The exhibit runs through Oct. 31. (Saanvi Phaneendra)

FREMONT, CA — Saanvi Phaneendra was visiting Texas for SpaceX's first integrated flight test of Starship in 2023 when her world suddenly opened up.

That day, Starship, which SpaceX claims is the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, let off a sonic boom that ignited a tremor in the atmosphere.

"I felt the sonic boom, and I remember thinking that most kids may not ever get to feel something like that," Phaneendra told Patch.

By the following year, Phaneendra turned her experience into an Eagle Scout Project and launched Galactic Getaway, a youth-led nonprofit that takes quality rocket exhibits across the country.

Today, Galactic Getaway has been featured at more than a dozen places across the Bay Area, including Dublin, San Lorenzo and Stanford's Aeronautics and Astronautics department. Phaneendra says the exhibition has reached more than 60,000 people.

Now, those rockets have touched down at the Fremont Main Library.

A young visitor at the Galatic Getaway exhibition. (Saanvi Phaneendra)

The free exhibition is on display now and will run through Oct. 31. It features 11 rockets, including Starship, Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9, SLS and Vulcan Centaur.

The rockets are built at the same 1:144 scale, meaning viewers can compare their sizes, Phaneendra said.

"Starship towers over almost everything," Phaneendra said. "You also rarely get to see next-gen rockets from the U.S., Russia, China and Europe standing side by side."

A poster above the rocket explains each one's mission, their engines, fuel and payload, Phaneendra said.

Bringing rockets to Fremont, Phaneendra says, feels like paying it forward to the place that gave her much more as a kid.

As a kid, she grew up going to the city's main library to meet her friends, she said.

Now she sees curious little kids, as she once was, walking up to the display case, seeing the rockets and asking questions about space.

"Sparking that curiosity is the most satisfying thing I've ever been part of," Phaneendra said. "Any one of those kids could grow up to build the next rocket, walk on Mars, or do something for humanity that none of us can imagine yet."

The Fremont Main Library is located at 2400 Stevenson Blvd.