Houston….There Is No Problem. A Day At The NASA Space Center.

We had been to Cape Canaveral in Florida a few years back where they do the space launches but today, we went to Mission Control in Houston. What a fantastic job this government agency has done in trying to include the general public with regards to what space travel has meant to our country.

We were in complete awe at the size of the 747 carrying the space shuttle “piggyback” style.

Here is how it works. Totally amazing what these genius folks came up with to get the shuttle back from Edwards Air Force Base in California where the shuttle always landed to Cape Canaveral in Florida where the shuttle always launched.

A working model of the set up allows visitors to try and place the shuttle onto the 747.

We were allowed to go into the shuttle itself. This is the cargo bay where all the gear and satellites are stored for their journey into orbit.

The heat shields on the belly of the shuttle
Heat shields under the nose cone

Showering aboard the International Space Station..

After touring the 747 and its shuttle companion we took a 90 minute tram tour through the entire NASA campus:

Our guide informed us that when the complex was designed it was purposefully designed like a college campus so that when it came time to close the facility, it could be used as a Texas State College. Pretty smart, but we don’t think it is closing soon.

A view of the working control room. It is from here that all the International Space Station monitoring is done. We were all told to be quiet or we would be asked to leave. Fair enough as they are quite busy we imagine.

Here is a prototype of the new capsule that will go on top of the rockets during the upcoming Mars missions. It is called Orion. It still amazes us that our government is paying $90 million per passenger that Russia charges to bring our astronauts to the ISS. That has to stop!

One stop on our tram tour was in a huge building that housed all the working experiments going on to guarantee future missions are successful.

Smart robots full of sensors are used regularly to monitor what happens to humans during space travel.

Not sure what these engineers are up to but we were assured it was important.

We were truly intrigued by these potential rovers for the Mars project.

One of our final stops on the tram tour was a HUGE building that housed a Saturn V rocket. This rocket is actually the only remaining one that is deemed space travel ready if needed.

Our camera’s lens was not wide enough from this distance to capture the entire building.

Check out the size of only one of the 5 engines that lift this rocket off the ground.

The last stage of the Saturn V rocket. It holds the lunar module at the top.

Here is the Lunar Module. This is the stage that the astronauts sit in as they head toward the moon.

Laurie was completely impressed with the size of the Saturn V!

Kennedy is not real but the lectern is the original one he used to give the speech that included his desires to see man reach the moon by the end of the decade of the 60s. If only he had lived long enough to see that happen.

Here are a few remaining photos we thought worthy of a view for you:

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