Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

First opened in 1949, the dome theater in planetarium was used to train astronauts from the Gemini, Apollo, Mercury, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz missions in celestial navigation.

From 1959 through 1975 every astronaut in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo–Soyuz Test Project programs spent hours in celestial navigation training at the planetarium.

A mockup simulating key parts of the Gemini capsule was constructed from plywood and mounted on a barber chair to enable changes in pitch and yaw.

Gordon Cooper used his training to make the most-accurate landing of Project Mercury after a power failure affected navigational systems.

Occasionally, word of the sessions leaked out and noted clothing designer and Chapel Hill native Alexander Julian recalls meeting Mercury Astronauts during a visit to the planetarium while in junior high.

Armstrong visited again only months before the 1969 launch of Apollo 11, spending a total of 20 days at Morehead over 11 training sessions, more than any other astronaut.

[5] In all, the astronauts who trained at the planetarium were Buzz Aldrin, Joseph P. Allen, William Anders, Neil Armstrong, Charles Bassett, Alan Bean, Frank Borman, Vance D. Brand, John S. Bull, Scott Carpenter, Gerald P. Carr, Eugene Cernan, Roger B. Chaffee, Philip K. Chapman, Michael Collins, Pete Conrad, Gordon Cooper, Walter Cunningham, Charles Duke, Donn F. Eisele, Anthony W. England, Joe Engle, Ronald E. Evans, Theodore Freeman, Edward Givens, John Glenn, Richard F. Gordon Jr., Gus Grissom, Fred Haise, Karl Gordon Henize, James Irwin, Joseph P. Kerwin, William B. Lenoir, Don L. Lind, Anthony Llewellyn, Jack R. Lousma, Jim Lovell, Ken Mattingly, Bruce McCandless II, James McDivitt, Curt Michel, Edgar Mitchell, Story Musgrave, Brian O'Leary, Robert A. Parker, William R. Pogue, Stuart Roosa, Wally Schirra, Rusty Schweickart, David Scott, Elliot See, Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton, Thomas P. Stafford, Jack Swigert, William E. Thornton, Paul J. Weitz, Ed White, Clifton Williams, Alfred M. Worden, and John Young.

Morehead's historic star projector, a Carl Zeiss Model VI, was installed in 1969 and remained in limited use as of April 2011, primarily for field trip groups.

The observatory supports research programs in bright star spectroscopy and optical counterparts of Gamma Ray Bursts.