St. Louis’s most futuristic roofline is shining brighter. The James S. McDonnell Planetarium — the 1963 hyperboloid landmark in Forest Park — celebrated a grand reopening in summer 2026 with milestone upgrades to its star theater, the Orthwein StarBay, at the Saint Louis Science Center.
The new lineup mixes spectacle and story: a premiere program explores our home planet through the eyes of orbiting satellites using real-time data; ‘The Little Star That Could: 360’ reimagines the planetarium’s beloved children’s classic in immersive 360-degree visuals; and live sky tours journey from Saturn’s rings to the Andromeda Galaxy. Planetarium shows are free for members and just a few dollars for everyone else — inside a building that is itself a landmark of space-age St. Louis, named for aviation pioneer James S. McDonnell.
Look up: the sky got an upgrade.
The McDonnell Planetarium is at the Saint Louis Science Center in Forest Park. Showtimes at slsc.org.
