The Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, has launched a fundraising campaign to raise US$25m (€21m, £19m) in celebration of its 25th anniversary.

Donors will be honoured with the launch of the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, which will be one of the largest in the world.

Attendance has more than doubled at Liberty Science Center over the past few years, with the attraction welcoming about 650,000 visitors per year. This 53 per cent spike in attendance makes it one of the fastest-growing established museums in the US.

The funds will help the Liberty Science Center refurbish, renew and upgrade its exhibits and interactives, and invest in its programming. The science centre already offers a wide variety of programming for STEM education, including robotics classes for five-year-olds and 'after dark' events for young adults.

Philanthropists Betty Wold Johnson, Josh Weston, Joseph and Millie Williams and Chalsty kicked off the appeal with donations totaling US$15.5m (€13.1m, £11.75m).

“We want to make Liberty Science Center the best interactive science museum in the world,” said president and CEO Paul Hoffman. “Our exhibition halls must be fully immersive and reflect the latest science and technology. With a quarter of a million more people coming to LSC annually, there is also more wear and tear on the interactive exhibits, and we want to make sure that every square foot of our 300,000sq ft (91,440sq m) facility is humming.”