COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina State Museum will have more space to explore.

The museum will break ground Thursday on a long-planned major expansion to its Columbia facilities. The $23 million, 70,000-square-foot area is called Windows to New Worlds and features a state-of-the-art observatory, digital dome planetarium and theater.

It also features a 4D theater to the museum's four floors of art, history, natural history and science.

Museum officials say NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will be on hand. Organizers say the Columbia native will help students from the Challenger Center of Richland School District One launch model rockets to symbolize the liftoff of the expansion.