Space Center Houston

We took a day off from the Livestock Show to show the grandkids some of the attractions in the Houston area. Ty and Rebecca had a great time at Space Center Houston.

They have a lot of play activities as well as educational activities and displays. The grandkids took advantage of the opportunities.

 

We took a tram tour to see the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility Training Center at NASA. This building is huge. It is large enough to contain life size mock-up models of the International Space Station, several of the Space Shuttle, and various other modules used in the space program.

This is a mock-up of the Space Shuttle minus the wings. Astronauts can practice actions that they would take while in space. Technicians even use the mock-ups to plan and even walk astronauts through procedures to fix problems while in space via video.

Astronauts can practice using this model of the Space Shuttles articulating arm to maneuver loads. The model is made much stonger than the one on the shuttle. Since the actual arm works in weightless environments, it cannot even pick itself up while on Earth.

Another tram stop displayed early rockets and engines that were used in the early era of the space program.

Ty and Rebecca had fun climbing around on this rocket and launcher.

 

Inside this building  is an actual Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program that put early astronauts in space.

In 1968 I saw an actual Saturn V rocket while on a tour of Cape Canaveral with Air Force ROTC. Of course it was vertical rather than horizontal. We were able to go up into the Saturn V assembly building which could house up to four of these huge rockets. It was awesome to look down and up at a rocket from a platform midway up inside the building. I still remember the thrill of looking at an actual rocket that would soon be launched into space.

It must be awesome to travel into the heavens and see God’s handy work up close.

“God made  two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and night, and separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:16-18