Daniel Gruenbaum is the curator at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Mr. Gruenbaum took a very curious route to arrive at his present position. He began studies at Ohio State University, but left school after two years in order to serve a four year apprenticeship with a wooden boat builder in Boothbay, Maine. During this period, Mr. Gruenbaum met and worked with Peter Throckmorton, the father of marine archeology. Mr. Gruenbaum developed a close association with Mr. Throckmorton and participated in several of Mr. Throckmorton’s museum projects. The largest of these was the installation of a 40-foot hull section of the wooden vessel St. Mary into the Maine State Museum. The St. Mary was the last-full rigged ship to be built on the Maine coast. This large hull section was retrieved from the beaches of the Falkland Islands.
Upon completion of his apprenticeship, Mr. Gruenbaum put his wood working skills to use by restoring several wooden framed automobiles. These projects included carriage restoration on a 1927 Rolls Royce and sill replacement on a 1935 Auburn boat tail speedster.
In 1983, Mr. Gruenbaum moved to Florida and joined a company specializing in museum work. After several years of building museum displays including several projects at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Mr. Gruenbaum was asked to join the production team for a large space-themed traveling exhibit, The Space Adventure. This exhibit featured a full-scale replica of NASA’s space shuttle. Mr. Gruenbaum joined the team as assistant producer and when fabrication was complete, he became the tour general manager. The Space Adventure toured internationally for seven years, traveling the capitols of Asia and South America. Over 10 million people visited the exhibit during the tour.
In 1998, Mr. Gruenbaum joined Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, the NASA concessionaire contracted to operate the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. He first served as manager of exhibits and later general manager of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame before being asked to serve as the Visitor Complex’s first curator. During his tenure as curator, he has assisted NASA in developing and executing an active collection management program, expanding the artifact collection by 30% over the past three years.
Mr. Gruenbaum has received two NASA Group Achievement Awards.