Johnson Space Center Houston
Today has pretty much been spent visiting NASA headquarters – the Johnson Space Center, Houston. This is “mission control” for the US space program and having visited Cape Canaveral in Florida during our visit in 2008 to see the launch site, we were really keen to see mission control.
Mission Control – up to Apollo missions
Johnson Space Center (JSC) is a bit more “touristy” than Cape Canaveral. It has a specially setup ” visitor center” with exhibits, theaters, displays etc where most of the visit revolves. Then one “exhibit” is a tram tour which takes you into the actual NASA facility for a tour of a couple of the buildings. The facility itself is a proper work site with thousands of employees and it is really a number of large office buildings with some laboratories and hanger type buildings as well. They do ongoing various research and experimentation. The tram tour did take us to the original mission control center (this was replaced after the Apollo missions with a newer, more advanced center which has been used for the shuttle program and international space center) and then through a hanger where they are developing and testing equipment for future programs (Orion is their next planned program).
The rocket garden – with ominous clouds !
Except for the noisy and pushy and straggling Japanese group, it was a very interesting tour. Last stop was the “rocket garden” which had versions of rockets that have been used in the program and a large hanger with a full Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo missions.
It was then back to the visitor center and we then spent the rest of our time looking at the exhibits. Liam also did a flight simulator test.
Apollo XIII crew (plus one !)
The weather today was stinking hot but thunderstorms have been predicted for the whole day. There have been lots of threatening clouds but we haven’t actually seen much rain so far. After we left the space center about 3, it was then time to visit the local mall for some “repairs”. Liam needed new sun glasses as the arm broke off the ones he had and Adrienne needed “refills” for her nails (important stuff !). We have also been eyeing some possible warmer clothes as we had been watching the forecast for Big Bend NP and there is expected to be a big temperature drop in the next few days.
We may also get wet ! They have issued flash flood warnings between here and San Antonio where we head tomorrow.
Catfish feeding frenzy !
Del Rio (which we will pass through on Sunday on our way to Big Bend) had record daily rainfall today (2 inches). Midland (closer to Big Bend) also had a record of 3.5 inches.
This evening we drove a little south to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico – so now we have been on both sides of the Gulf. We went to a place called Kemah Boardwalk which is a bit of a cross between Luna Park and Brighton Pier. Walking along the boardwalk you are on the edge of the Gulf looking out to the wide open water. Along the walk there are signs saying “Don’t feed the birds” but then there are boxes with pellets saying “Feed the fish” – for this pleasure you pay 25 cents. At one point along the boardwalk near a restaurant we came across a crowd looking into the water below next to a bright light. As we got closer, we found the water “boiling” which turned out to be thousands of catfish all clambering and thrashing over one another to get the food people were throwing in the water ! The guy in the restaurant even threw the scraps from a table he came to clean in as well !
Kemah Boardwalk
We found a nice spot called Landry’s Seafood where we had a lovely dinner to finish our day and our time in Houston.
Tomorrow we continue our trek west …………
Hahaha, that's a great photo of Mum. Sheer elation! The catfish on the other hand look nightmarish.