Since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated by space exploration and always wanted to visit NASA. When living in Kansas, the odds were small. I did go see the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson a couple of times, which is highly recommended, but it can't hold a candle to the hallowed ground that is Houston or Cape Canaveral.
Since moving to Texas, that desire to see NASA has been burning stronger in me, but it seemed like I never could make the time for it. Even living as close as we do in College Station, a 2-3 hour drive each way wasn't something I looked forward to.
Our wedding anniversary was this past Tuesday, so I took a couple of vacation days to give us a long weekend to celebrate. We decided that instead of going to one particular place, we'd make a couple of relaxing day trips. My loving wife suggested that one of these places be NASA.
We purchased our tickets online and took note of the hours for Monday: 9am to 6pm. If we left by 6am we should arrive in time to beat most of the crowds. I read that the tram tours were popular and the lines got very long very quickly. One tram toured the astronaut training facilities and the other tram covered the old Apollo mission control. I wanted to see both, so I hoped there'd be time enough.
After wading through rush hour Houston traffic, we ended up at the park right at 9am. Only a few others were there, so I felt good about our chances at the trams. However, upon arriving at the entrance we learned that summer hours had ended that morning and the museum wouldn't open until 10am.
A bit disappointing, but I'd much rather arrive an hour early than an hour late, so I didn't let it get me down. When 10 o'clock finally arrived, we were one of the first ones through the door and we made a bee-line straight to the trams.
I most wanted to see the astronaut training facility, so we went to that line first. It only took about 10-15 minutes for the tram cars to fill up and then we were off. We walked up a flight of stairs to a catwalk and observed all the simulators on the floor below.
Over half of the giant room was filled with full-size mock-ups of modules on the International Space Station. There was also a shuttle cockpit and a docking simulator. On the far end of the building were a lot of robotic projects and we saw one of the Robonauts being tested in a low-gravity harness to prepare for future lunar and Martian missions.