[2] It is located at the east end of the El Prado Drive walkway, next to the Bea Evenson Fountain and plaza in central Balboa Park.

The founders also wanted to eliminate the large dumbbell-shaped star projector used in traditional planetariums, which juts from the center of the room and blocks part of the view, and would interfere with the movies being projected onto the dome.

The San Diego Hall of Science approached Spitz Laboratories to create a new type of star projector that would not obstruct the view for part of the audience or interfere with the movie projection system.

Spitz created a servo-controlled "starball" that became the centerpiece of the system, dubbed a "Space Transit Simulator" (STS).

A joystick even allowed the operator to "fly" the theater through space, showing the resulting apparent movement of planets through the sky, though in practice the planetarium presentations were always pre-programmed.

The cameras would use a fisheye lens, taking in nearly a 180 degree field of view but with a highly distorted image on the film.

Following the example set four years earlier by the Exploratorium in San Francisco, all exhibits in the science center were required to have something for visitors to manipulate or otherwise participate in.

[11] At the same time, in-house production of various scientific topics began using video software designed for the dome screen.

[13] All of the Fleet Science Center's exhibits, galleries, and a Heikoff Dome Theater show are included in a daily admission ticket.

[14][15] Features include more than 100 interactive science exhibits in 8 galleries,[2] traveling exhibitions, Kid City (especially for kids five and under), Studio X (interactive create and invent place),[16] the North Star Science Store, Craveology cafe, and the Giant Dome Theater.

[20] Recent temporary exhibitions include "The Art of the Brick, The World's Largest Display of LEGO Art Made Out of Millions of LEGO Bricks",[21] "Taping Shape, Explore an Unexpected Indoor Landscape",[22] and "Science Fiction, Science Future" .