Sen. Booker Delivers $559,000 to Liberty Science Center for Portable Planetarium

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker presented Liberty Science Center with a $559,000 federal grant on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, to launch a portable planetarium program that will bring astronomy and science education to students across New Jersey.

Booker delivered a ceremonial check to Liberty Science Center President and CEO Paul Hoffman at the Jersey City museum. The funding, a Congressionally Directed Spending award, will allow the center to bring a new portable planetarium to schools and communities on specially designed vehicles, expanding access to science, technology, engineering, and math programming.

The Jersey City science center is home to the largest planetarium in the United States. Each year, nearly 300,000 students take part in its onsite, offsite, and virtual programs, and officials said the portable planetarium will help extend that reach into schools, community centers, and after-school programs.

“This very generous grant to our center for the new portable planetarium programming is a sterling manifestation of his commitment to ensure that countless thousands of children across New Jersey can experience the same wonders of science that he did,” Hoffman said. “School children and their parents across the state are equally thankful for his generosity.”

The grant will also let the center hire and train new educators and develop classroom workshops on astronomy and earth science, introducing students to NASA content such as lunar phases and storm tracking. The program builds on a pilot the center launched earlier this year with the Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County and Jersey City Public Schools.

The Liberty Science Center visit was one stop on Booker’s annual tour of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

“Today’s visits showcased the extraordinary breadth of New Jersey’s contributions to our nation,” Booker said. “New Jerseyans fuel the global economy. Their skill, creativity, and determination strengthen our state and our country.”