Orlando Science Center
In January 1955, the Central Florida Federation of Art and Sciences (CFFAS), a group of visionary Central Florida citizens, chartered a small non-profit science museum called the Central Florida Museum and Planetarium. Renamed the Orlando Science Center (OSC) in 1973, it operated in a small, often expanded, building for 30+ years. In 1993, the Board decided to build an entirely new facility and, after completing a $48.9 million capital campaign, a modern science center was inaugurated in 1997. The 207,000 sq. ft. facility is architecturally distinctive and built for the future with exhibit halls, nature habitats, inviting exhibit galleries, classrooms, a giant screen theater, an auditorium/theater, an observatory and visitor amenities.
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, OSC has served more than 4 million visitors since 1997. More than 1 million of these visitors were K-12 students. Today, on an annual basis, more than 70,000 students are served by the Science Center through school field trips or outreach programs and our dedicated volunteers spend 25,000 hours working with us to insure a high level of guest engagement.
