SPACE IS THE PLACE
Four years ago, my dear friend, Judi James, former director of the BASF Planetarium, called and asked if I would serve as secretary on the board. Out of respect for my friend, I agreed. I knew nothing of the stars or astronomy, save what my dad taught me as a kid gazing into the summer sky pointing out the big dipper and the northern star.
Calls from Judi were always answered with a hint of trepidation. You see, besides being the director at the planetarium, Judi has also been director of The Elizabethan Madrigal Feast and theater productions at Center Stages at The Center for Arts and Sciences. I remember my first call from Judi after trying out for Beauty and the Beast twenty years ago. She said, “Hello Lauri, would you be our Babette?” to which I asked, “Do you have the right number?” I am so grateful to Judi for all the roles she cast me in, seems like they all included accents which I had to master!
Four years later, I’m still at the planetarium, mastering another role of volunteer and presenter of night sky talks. I’m not alone there. We have a dedicated team of volunteers and have added many new attractions to the space. We offer Star & Space Story Time on Saturdays at 12:30pm, Saturday family friendly full dome shows at 1pm, monthly hands-on displays, as well as our regular Tuesday night 7pm full dome show and a 4th Friday show.
The History of Flight display and glass case displays in the dome room were recently designed by David Babb. He even made models of the Mars rover out of 1,100 Lego pieces and the Voyager space probe with 1,900 pieces; that always impresses the kids on school tours! Jim McGlynn graciously serves as docent from 11-2pm Tuesdays to Fridays so that the lobby can be open to the public. He offers a free Wednesday Meditation show from 12:15-12:45pm for the community. Kristina hosts our Tuesday night shows at 7pm. Occasionally, she writes and narrates her show, such as this month’s show, “Apollo and Artemis Missions to the Moon.” Perfect timing for this one, since the Artemis II will be orbiting the Moon in April. Amy Smolen, Nathan Rau, Charles Webb, Connie Haws, Mark Busbice, and Wendi Moore round out our regular team of presenters, technicians and docents.
The real star of our show at the planetarium is the 61-year-old star ball that graces the center of our 30-foot dome room. I joke that she and I are the same age and we’ve both held up pretty well. Our star ball can replicate the night sky anywhere in the world. All of our dome shows include a 15-minute night sky star talk. The truly great thing about our star ball is that the current four crew members of the Artemis II trained on it with Judi James. They had to memorize 50 star names to continue with their program at NASA. They passed the test and we will be watching them orbit the moon in April and that is a big deal, since humans have not been to the Moon since 1972.
I always ask people how they heard about the planetarium. Often they say, “I came here as a kid on a school tour.” We still do school tours Tuesday-Thursdays. We are open to public, private, and homeschool school groups, senior tours, and Scouts. The space is also available for rent for special occasions. What I don’t like to hear is, “I didn’t know we had a planetarium.” We are here and we are waiting to share our space with you!
Check out our website https://bcfas.org and Facebook BASF Planetarium to see our scheduled activities, shows and posts. Come see us among the stars and next time someone calls you to volunteer in the community, maybe even at the planetarium, consider saying “yes” and see what happens!
Published in The Facts, Brazos Life Nov 12, 2025
