DON’T MISS!: LOTS OF SPACE Boldly go where many men and women have gone before — and see something new. The American Museum of Natural History’s “Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration,” opening tomorrow, offers visitors an out-of-this-world experience. “Other showings on space travel have looked back over the past 50 years,” says curator Michael Shara. “This is where we ‘can go.’ ” (They’ve even made an iPad app to go with the show.) The experience starts with replicas of spacecrafts past. It graduates to models of future space stations and interactive experiences (a contraption that smells like the moon!) before ending in a Mars simulation room where visitors can be photographed alongside NASA’s sleek, new, superhero-esque space suits. “We’ve graduated from kindergarten. Maybe first-grade,” says Shara regarding our knowledge of space. “College will be traveling to other planets’ stars.” Central Park West and 79th Street; 212-769-5100, amnh.org. — Brian Niemietz
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WATCH IT!: BLIMP MY FILM In addition to making new features and documentaries, Martin Scorsese keeps busy supervising the restoration of classic films like “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.” Scorsese’s longtime editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, also had a hand in a newly refurbished edition of this 1943 satire directed by her late husband, Michael Powell, in collaboration with screenwriter Emeric Pressburger. Roger Livesey plays a pompous British soldier from the Boer War through World War II, and 20-year-old Deborah Kerr portrays three different women in his life. Gorgeously photographed in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff (“The Red Shoes”), Film Forum today is beginning a two-week run for the full 163-minute version of a film that’s often been cut for TV showings. West Houston and Varick streets. Info: filmforum.com. — Lou Lumenick Courtesy MGM
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CHECK IT OUT!: PARADE REST Don’t feel like braving the crowds to get a glimpse of Snoopy at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? There’s an alternative. “America’s Parade: Celebrating 85 Years of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” a new exhibit, opening tomorrow, at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, captures the history of the New York institution. “[The exhibit] is so intergenerational,” says CMoM executive director Andy Ackerman. “I look at these photos and see my childhood on 57th Street, and someone who’s 80 will see their childhood . . . and it’s a great opportunity to get kids interested in history without making it obvious.” Highlights include vintage posters, historical snapshots, original maquettes from which the balloons are made (including Curious George) and interactive elements such as a video playing the “newsreel” of the parade’s history. 212 W. 83rd St.; 212-721-1223, cmom.org. Admission: $7 to $11. — Christina Amoroso
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HEAR HIM!: MAD ABOUT HIM Don Draper better watch his back. Tonight, Broadway hunk Cheyenne Jackson, known for roles in hits like “Xanadu,” joins the New York Pops Orchestra for Cheyenne Jackson’s Cocktail Hour: Music of the “Mad Men” Era at Carnegie Hall. “My music teachers always told me that I was born in the wrong era,” says Jackson. “Music of the ’50s and ’60s lends itself to my voice and my sensibility.” Jackson, decked out in Calvin Klein throwback suits (complete with costume changes!), and the Pops will transport the audience back in time, with hits like “Luck Be a Lady” and even a little Amy Winehouse. He promises he will sang. “If you sang, it means it’s a little deeper,” laughs Jackson. 8 p.m., $27 to $108. 57th Street and Seventh Avenue; carnegiehall.org. — Gregory E. Miller Getty Images
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GET A TASTE!: SILLY CHILI The weather may be getting cooler, but things will be heating up in Gowanus on Sunday, when 27 home chefs will duke it out to be crowned the winner of the Ninth Annual Chili Takedown. The flagship event of organizer Matt Timms’ nationwide Takedown cook-offs, the popular event is Timms’ favorite of the series (other contests include ones for bacon, cookies and salsa). “Chili’s a mainstay,” he explains. And it’s a chance to try new and wacky spins on the classic comfort food, too — expect variations that will incorporate Dutch chocolate, whiskey and more. “Everyone’s being so secret [about their recipes],” Timms adds. “They’re bloodthirsty to win!” Your $15 admission gets you all the chili you can stomach at the Bell House, 149 Seventh St., Brooklyn; 718-643-6510, thetakedowns.com. — C.A. Getty Images
