If you do any search on Google about places to visit in Houston, NASA Space Center tops the list every time. It’s a huge space center located towards the south of Houston. You can spend one complete day there. Going through the simulated space rides, space shows, actual behind the scenes show of live satellites and their control rooms. A walk inside the actual space shuttle, models of space shuttles. Looking at stones brought from the moon, playing games that give a feel of being in the outer space.
NASA Space Center, Houston
Tram Tour
There is a tram tour to the live Johnson’s space center, where they take you around the facility. And show the actual equipment that is used for Astronauts training, showing the collaboration between various nations participating in the space missions. A tram takes you around the facility. You get to see the components of the spaceship, the rocket launcher. Though there are tour guides to show things around to you, you hardly get anything out of them. As they tell you everything with the blankest face possible and with such a heavy accent that you hardly understand anything. Towards the end of the tram tour, there is a live rocket that you get to see. You have to see it believe how huge it is.
Movie Show
A movie show depicts how the astronaut’s life is. How they prepare for the space trips, the training facility in Canada that is used to give them underwater training. Their trips to lonely places with a small team in extreme weather conditions, their food habits, their fitness regime. The problems they face when they return from a space trip. The whole process of the spacewalk is demonstrated along with the purpose of the spacewalk. It is amazing to see the real people talk about their space experiences. Researchers are working on robots who can do the spacewalk instead of humans. They show the design of the robot’s hands, which is modeled on the human hand. Primarily because all the other equipment has been modeled to be handled by the human hand. So rather than designing a robot and then
So rather than designing a robot and then remodeling all the other equipment, they modeled the robot on a human hand. This also gives the flexibility to handle the equipment by both humans and robots. This was the most informative section of the whole visit.
Self-pictures
There are lots of places where you can get your pictures clicked as astronauts, in space suits, in various space shuttles. There are small games for kids to feel and learn about outer space. I am sure it definitely would generate good interest amongst kids and would contribute to motivating or inspiring the future spacewalkers. There was another film showing the first landing on the moon, the rover being driven on the moon and the press coverage of the event then.
A good experience, a first of its kind for me. Definitely, recommend it to anyone visiting Houston.
did you get to say “Houston, do you copy ? we are going down” like the movies ?