Space Center Houston is home to over 400 artifacts, along with educational and awe-inspiring exhibits, attractions, and displays focused on the wonders of space and space exploration. Perfect for space nerds like me!
From a young age I have always been fascinated with astronomy and space exploration. Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Arthur C Clark, Star Wars, Star Trek, and even movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind have provided endless hours of entertainment over my lifetime. While other girls my age were reading Teen Beat I was reading magazines like Astronomy and Sky & Telescope. On top of that, my dad is am amateur astronomer, so I grew up always having a telescope in the house and spending many nights with him viewing the night sky. Even now as an adult we have fun together chasing awesome once-in-a-lifetime astronomical events.
So naturally Space Center Houston (along with Johnson Space Center) had been on my bucket list for years. The problem was, I never had a reason to go to Houston and other travel plans aways pulled us in other directions. However when Peter decided that he wanted to spend his birthday sitting on the beach in Galveston, I decided it was time to check this dream off my list!
Unfortunately, on the day we went a lot of other people were also checking the space center off their bucket list! Turns out, the week between Christmas and New Years is one of the worst times to visit the space center. It’s so bad they even have a permanent warning on their website when you purchase general admission tickets:
The three tram tours currently offered by the space center are the most sought-after attractions, so tickets tend to sell out quickly. Tickets for the Mission Control Tour were already sold out by the time I booked our entrance tickets (a couple of days ahead of time) so there was no chance of seeing that. And even though we arrived just an hour after opening, tickets for the Astronaut Training Facility tram tour were already sold out for the day. So, that left Rocket Park, which was thankfully still available. After making it through the security line the first we were going to take a look around the main building before doing the tram tour, but a museum guide told us that we should do it first thing, because by afternoon the lines are crazy. And he was right – by lunch time the line for the tram tour was already about 2 hours long!
Rocket Park
During the tram ride from the visitors center to Rocket Park we heard a brief history and a few fun facts about the Johnson Space Center. We also got to see an alligator sitting along a ditch, which calls the Johnson Space Center home. After getting dropped off I looked around and thought “is this it?” There were a few rockets outside, but nothing extremely exciting. One was Little Joe II (1963-1955), which was used to test the Apollo/Saturn V launch escape system and isn’t so “little” and Mercury-Redstone (1960-1961), which was used to propel the first American astronauts into space.
However, once we entered the hanger I was overwhelmed by one of the most awe-inspiring displays I’ve seen in any museum. It’s one thing to see a Saturn V rocket blast off on movies and TV shows, but it’s another to see it in person. It’s massive!
Thankfully this was not a timed admission because I spent a lot of time time walking slowly along each side of the rocket, studying all the details and reading all the signs along the way explaining how all the stages of the rocket worked.
It was actually a little funny. We had recently finished watching the fantastic sci-fi TV show For All Mankind, an alternate history depicting what would have happened if Russia had put the first man on the moon and the space race never ended. It was such a great (and believable) series that we kept looking for references to the characters when reading the signs and displays on the wall highlighting the astronauts involved in each Apollo mission.
Even when my dad saw the photos I posted on Facebook he asked “Where is Gordo and Tracy’s statue?”
Independence Plaza
After making it back to the visitor center, we explored the Independence Plaza outdoor exhibit complex. It houses a real Boeing 747 aircraft with a replica Space Shuttle mounted on top.
The really cool thing is that both are open to the public! We first explored the interior of the NASA 905 aircraft, which has been turned into a mini museum, with a lot of exhibits and hands-on activities explaining the history NASA and space travel. We didn’t spend too much time in here as there were a lot of people in a small enclosed space.
Even though it was a replica and not a real shuttle, it was cool to see. And also makes you realize that interior of the shuttle is actually quite small compared to what is portrayed in TV shows and movies!
SpaceX Falcon 9
A little walk from the space shuttle display is a reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This rocket, which was used on two missions back in 2017 was made by SpaceX. The rocket has landing legs (the dark gray things you see in the photo) that deploy as part of landing…just like in the movies!
There was also a flag display representing the flags of all the countries that have sent astronauts to the International Space Station. We thought that was pretty cool. Thankfully Peter and Emma were in a good mood to put up with my cheesy photo requests.
Main Visitor Building
After fueling up in the food court (pun intended!) we decided to walk about the main visitor building of the space center. Here there are several sections and exhibits and lot of it seemed to be geared towards children, but it still seemed interesting. However, the hoards of people were making it nearly impossible for us to look at the exhibits, let alone read any of the displays. We were able to walk around for a little while and take a few photos, but then we were just done with the crowds.
My favorite artifact were these space flowers. I thought they were super cute and sweet.
NASA Gift shop
I’ll be honest – I love a good gift shop and the gift shop here at the space center, aptly called SpaceTrader, is definitely worth saving your pennies for. We ended up walking out with some cool tshirts and other souvenirs. I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t have books or puzzles, though.
Cheesy Photos
Seeing Rocket Park was the highlight of our visit to the space center. Coming in at a close second was the cheesy photos we bought on our way out. I mean, look how awesome these things are!
What To Know Before You Go
Take it from us, don’t visit Space Center Houston during the Christmas and New Years holidays. I highly recommend booking your tickets online way ahead of time, especially if you want to make sure you get a seat on one of the trams.
Next time we go, I am going to splurge and get the VIP tours.
Parking costs $10 per vehicle plus service fee and can be paid upon arrival by phone by scanning QR codes posted around the parking lot and the entrance to the center.
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