Our experience at Johnson Space Center in Houston

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Our experience at Johnson Space Center in Houston

Johnson Space Center in Houston is NASA’s headquarters and one of the main attractions in Houston, where history was made… and it’s obviously famous for … Houston we have a problem.

We had already had a great experience at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where I satisfied my hunger for knowledge and information about space projects, astronautics, and history that I’ve had since childhood. But I had no problem coming to Johnson Space Center in Houston just a few days after Florida.

Visit Houston, the official tourism office in Houston, kindly offered us the Houston City Pass, a booklet which gave us access to five major attractions in the city for free, including Johnson Space Center, and huge discounts to many others.

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I couldn´t miss the opportunity to see the control room where NASA’s operators heard Jim Lovell say the famous words, “Houston we have a problem”. Johnson Space Center in Houston is somewhere that I was sure that my family and I would enjoy visiting.

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Our visit to Johnson Space Center in Houston

Upon arrival, just as we did in Florida, we organized our visit to avoid wasting time. We immediately went on the tram tour and chose to see the old control rooms for the Gemini and Apollo missions (blue tour). It is a short distance from the pickup point to the building and it was very interesting to see. The guide was in a hurry and spoke extremely fast, without stopping to rest or even catch a breath, so I focused more on the room and the images that were being displayed on the screens at the back.

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Family Travel Secret
Smartphones today have much more technology than the whole room and operational equipment had in those times. That’s how fast technology has evolved in just over 4 decades. Any person today that has a smartphone has more sophisticated technology than some of the best experts in the world back in the 70s.

 

 

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After that, we were back on the tram and our next stop was the Rocket Park where we saw pieces of the old rocket that played a major role in transporting astronauts to the moon during the Apollo missions.

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Back at the main building we went to the Starship Gallery where there is a little replica space shuttle. There is also a model spaceship where you can see inside and there are some mannequins floating, showering and eating inside the shuttle as if they were in space, as well as some other artefacts from space flight history.

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A real size Boeing and a Space Shuttle at Independence Plaza at Johnson Space Center in Houston

While there’s a small replica of a shuttle in the Starship Gallery, at Independence Plaza there is a full size Boeing carrying a real size space shuttle. That´s something unique that you don´t see every day or just anywhere. The great thing about Independence Plaza is not only that you can see the Boeing and the Space Shuttle from the outside, but also that you can go inside those huge pieces of machinery and see for yourself what astronauts have when they go on a mission.

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Family Travel Secret
At weekends, holidays and in high season Johnson Space Center may be really busy, so to enter the plane and the shuttle you need to make a reservation for a visit during the day. Therefore it is recommended that you reserve your spot upon arrival at the Space Center. The day when we visited there weren’t too many people, so we didn’t need to reserve a place, but that´s quite unusual.

 

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Inside the shuttle there is lots of information regarding the mission, the astronauts and the lifestyle in space. It is definitely very interesting.

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After that we split up as I wanted to see some of the films that were showing in the theatres at the Space Center. One of them was called “Journey to Space” and was a very interesting 45-minute film in which NASA presents a bit about the history of space missions and the project that intends to take men to Mars in the Orion capsule. I watched the film at Kennedy Space Center, but there were some parts I wanted to see again to understand the project a bit better. Another of the movies was “Human Destiny”, chronicling the events leading up to the formation of NASA.

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In the meantime Ruth and Noah were at Zero-G Diner, as Noah was very tired and was having a rest.

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As soon as the movies finished we met up again to continue exploring the Space Center. There were a lot of other things to see such as simulators and instructive games.

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Noah also had his own playroom (just like at Kennedy Space Center) with Angry Birds, a place called Kids Space Place, where he benefitted from many entertaining and educational activities.

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Every room in the Johnson Space Center in Houston has something interesting to see. There we saw ejection seats, the Lunar Rover Trainer, Pete Conrad’s Apollo 12 suit, John Young’s Escape suit, and so much more. You can even touch a real lunar rock!

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One of the last stops of the visit was The Gallery Wall where NASA pays tribute and displays pictures of the mission crews from all the missions that have ever been part of the American Space Program.

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There was even time to stop at the shop to check out some souvenirs and buy some ice cream for astronauts.

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It was definitely a worthwhile visit and one that the 3 of us enjoyed very much. There was a lot more to see, but unfortunately one day was very short. We will definitely come back in the future.

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Thanks Visit Houston for offering us the Houston City Pass. We surely enjoyed an amazing visit to Johnson Space Center.

Next stop, Houston and Austin!

Visit Houston kindly offered us the City Passes to explore the attractions of the city, such as the Space Center. As usual all opinions and oodles of pictures remain our own.

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