Sandburg Planetarium Inspired a Tradition of Fort Hunt Stargazers

In the wake of Russia’s 1957 Sputnik I launch, interest in outer space increased in our country and spurred the construction of nine planetaria within the Fairfax County Public School System between 1961 and 1969. Our 1969 Moon Landing continued the construction push and led to the opening of the only currently closed planetarium in the school system—the Planetarium.

Our area’s fascination with space has mirrored the nation’s on-going affair with flight, space travel, and planetary observation. But, locally, we have often taken that fascination to a higher level. A number of those inspired students have acted upon their early interest by becoming active participants in space travel. Their motivation, they have often said in newspaper interviews, was partly due to their exposure to the offerings of the nearby Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and partly due to having been to one of the FCPS planetaria.

Completed in January 1970, at 8428 Fort Hunt Road, that star gazing window had a Spitz A4 planetarium projector, a 30 foot diameter dome, and comfortably sat 54 people. Visitors, mostly young students, were treated to a unique vista which would prove inspirational for years to come.

Among those drawn to the planetarium during their student years were Catherine G. Coleman, a graduate of Woodson High (1978) and an astronaut on the Space Shuttle Columbia, Patrick G. Forrester, a graduate of West Springfield High (1975) a Discovery astronaut, and Fort Hunt HS graduate Wendy B. Lawrence (1977) who flew on Discovery in 2005.

The Sandburg MS was instituted in 1985 on the grounds of the Fort Hunt High School when that high school and Groveton High School were combined to form the current West Potomac High School. In 1978, during the planetarium’s tenure at Fort Hunt HS, a fire broke out that damaged the dome and equipment and required extensive renovations. Those renovations were successful and the planetarium continued in operation until as recently as 2006. Unfortunately, budget cuts and priority shifts have caused the planetarium to close due to lack of funds.

But, if our delegate, Scott Surovell, has his way (and those of us who can volunteer get in touch with him), we will not have long to wait for our planetarium to reopen its window on the stars and for our students to dream anew about NASA’s next space adventure. In a recent article  about the planetarium, Surovell writes:

Carl Sandburg’s new principal, Terrence Yarborough, is working on getting the equipment operational, locating volunteers, and staff willing to be trained. I’m also working on some funding. Hopefully, it will be back up soon so that the children in our community can benefit from the same things we did as a kids growing up in this community.

An operational planetarium might just help our newest Wendy think about how to make her dream of space flight a reality.