Seattle Center
Sprawling former World's Fair grounds with a science pavilion, arts venues, fountains, and open lawns.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Seattle Center traces how a modest 1909 exposition anniversary got reinvented as a Cold War showcase after the Soviet launch of Sputnik, with the federal government pouring over nine million dollars into a science pavilion designed by a young Minoru Yamasaki. It follows Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov's 1962 visit under those arches, and the blunt line he gave reporters about searching the sky for God. Days later, American astronaut John Glenn arrived at the same fairgrounds with rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. Stand under those same arches, now the Pacific Science Center, where that exchange still hangs in the air.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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