NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX) – June 2009

 Officially this is known as the “Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,” and when you’re traveling on the south side of Houston it’s not hard to miss.  This is one of those “must see” places you need to go, even if you have to travel a bit to get there.  One of the first things you notice when coming upon the campus is a huge building which houses the last remaining Saturn V rocket (turned on its side, of course).  For many years this sat out in the open until enough threats of devastating weather wisely forced them to construct the building around it.  The rocket is broken up buy its “stages” so you ca get a peek inside, and understand how massive this is.

 Inside is the actual Mission Control used for the Apollo missions, and mock-ups of the interior of the space shuttle.  At the time when these pictures were taken, there was a new module being made for the International Space Station which the astronauts would have the opportunity to get familiar with.  Throughout the museum portion are many interesting displays dealing with America’s space program, which are too numerous to mention here.  Even the pictures only showed a small portion of what there was to see here.  This was why I recommended you take the opportunity to experience this first-hand.