Gene Roddenberry Planetarium to relocate to former El Paso elementary school

The El Paso Independent School District board voted Tuesday night to approve spending almost $1 million for the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium’s new home.

With the funding, the planetarium will relocate to the former building of the now-closed Crosby Elementary in northeast El Paso.

The planetarium is currently located in the same building where the school district’s headquarters are at — on Boeing Drive near the airport.

But the city of El Paso asked EPISD to vacate that building when its lease runs out at the end of the year, prompting a need for a new location for the planetarium. The city also offered a grant to help pay for the relocation costs.

The planetarium has been in operation for roughly 30 years, with hundreds of thousands of children coming through its doors to learn about far away worlds.

It was named for StarTrek creator Gene Roddenberry in 2001.

He was born in El Paso and lived here for a couple of years before his family moved to California.