Space Center Houston
Published on Aug 15, 2006 at 4:20 am.
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So, is anyone going to Houston? Anyone who knows anything about space exploration knows that Houston has played a key role in American spaceflight. The Manned Spaceflight Center (Later the Johnson Space Center) was built on the outskirts of Houston. This is the site of Mission Control. Several rockets, spacecraft, and assorted space artifacts are here. So, this makes for a fantastic tourist stop. Years ago, when I first went here, you could drive onto the campus, park in the first parking lot, and go into the first building. That was the visitor center. It was also the press center, so you got displaced from some visitor offerings whenever a mission was in space. But, you could walk through the center, look at the artifacts, and see various exhibits and films. Then, you could either get a tour of the center, or you could just pick up a self-guided map and walk through the center from building to building. Most buildings were off limits, but you could walk around and go to the ones that were open. Those times are long gone.
Now, all the public exhibits have moved off site. A separate visitor center, called Space Center Houston, has been built adjacent to the Johnson Space Center. Many of the artifacts, including some spacecraft that have flown into space, a mockup of Skylab, space suits, and mockup of the Space Shuttle, and some moon rocks have been moved to the new site. Also, there is not an admission charge (before, when NASA ran its own visitor center, it was free). It costs about $19 to get in, though you can often find coupons on the internet or in the racks of brochures that no one ever reads sitting in hotel lobbies. It is worth it for real space enthusiasts, though. In addition to the exhibits at visitor center, you can also get a guided tour onto the Johnson Space Center site itself. There are a couple of tours available. One goes to the visitor gallery of the old misson control. The other sees some of the training facilities. You can also stop off at some of the rocket exhibits. You can not see nearly as much as you did back in the old days, and you can’t wander off. JSC is now a much higher security place than it used to be in today’s age of terrorism.
It helps if you know something about the space program, though, or go with someone who does. I have taken students there, and as we go through the exhibits I explain what we are looking at. Without fail, I wind up with a crowd following me around. You can get an optional audio tour, but I gather that people like my tour better. If you have kids, they’ll love it. In fact, while the organization that runs Space Center Houston is a non-profit organization, they are out to make money, and kids are big business. So, most of the visitor center seems aimed at kids. That doesn’t make it less fun for those that aren’t kids, but it does displace some things that used to be there in the old days. If you don’t have kids, go during the week, and there will be fewer screaming kids running around. It is also less crowded. They also offer something called a “level 9 tour” which is much more costly, but you get to see a LOT more (more like the old days). You even get a chance to meet an astronaut on that tour.
They have a place to eat in there, but I’d suggest eating elsewhere for better and much less expensive food. There is a spectacular gift shop, though, with most imaginable souveniers that you can imagine. I can’t hardly go there without getting a NASA coffee cup, shot glass, mission patch, or something. There is a discount for teachers, and that holds for college faculty, too. If I recall, there may also be a military discount. Those are for the gift shop — not admisison. There are other events for kids, like scout camps, etc.
To get to the Space Center, you have to get to Houston first. The space center was built on the far southeast part of the city. Actually, it was built southeast of the city and they just extended the city limits to reach it. It is actually closer to Galveston than it is to downtown Houston. Take I-45 south towards Galveston, and exit at NASA Road 1. Head north for a few miles, and Space Center Houston will be on the left, with the Johnson Space Center just past it. If you arrive by air, then Hobby Airport is FAR closer. It is just a few miles away, while Bush Intercontinental is on the far side of the county from the space center.
-Astroprof
