3D show has sneak preview

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 5, 2003 by Julene Thompson Deseret News staff writer

They were all wearing red glasses -- elected officials, school teachers and members of the planetarium board -- as they watched the 3D space station movie at the new Clark Planetarium Friday.

Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman invited the group for a preview of the planetarium's two theaters and science store before its grand opening April 11. Winston Scott, guest astronaut who has been with NASA for seven years on missions on the Endeavor and the Challenger, also spoke at Friday's gala.

After two years of preparation and $19 million, hundreds of school children will come to watch the space presentations for free as they did at the old Hansen Planetarium but this time they'll have a little more room.

"At times there were 400 kids there at once," said Claudia Nakano, Clark Planetarium marketing director. "We outgrew that facility,"

Already the Clark Planetarium is booked to the end of the school year.

"The Hansen Planetarium was sick," Workman said. "We decided to start over and make it the best planetarium in America."

And in many ways it is. The new 3D IMAX theater is the only one in Utah. Also, the Hansen Star Theatre has the first Digistar 3 projection system in the world with software created by Evans & Sutherland, Nakano said.

"The giant five story screen and advanced sound system is about as close as you get to being in space," Scott said.

Mike Clark, president of the Clark foundation, donated $1 million to the planetarium for exhibits that he wanted the public to see for free.

E-mail: jthompson@desnews.com