January 13, 2002

Hi, everyone. This is Steve and I asked Lisa if I could write today’s journal entry to tell you all about the visit that Tucker, Clancy and I made to the Space Center here in Houston on Saturday. (Haven was still too sick to go, and Lisa was swamped with work that had to be done, so I took the two kids. By the way—we determined this weekend that Haven has strep-throat and through the generous help of a physician we met at the fabulous church we were at on Sunday got help and medication for Haven to get her on the road to recovery. I’m sure that Lisa will fill you in on all the details of this unbelievably great church in her journal entry tomorrow.) But I digress—back to the Space Center.

The Space Center is located about 20 miles south of downtown Houston, but because Houston has grown so large, it feels as if it were right in the middle of the city because of the development all around it. (This is much the same feel you get going to Disneyland in California, although the Space Center has much more landmass in their property.) 

The Visitors Center is where the tour begins—after you’ve been thoroughly searched by security guards. This was one of the most expensive tours we’ve taken so far—approximately the same cost as a good amusement park—but certainly well worth the price of admission. We also chose the new option of the portable M3 player for each of us so we could listen to narration and music at the different exhibits. This system is brand new for the Space Center, and it has two interesting features. First, it’s unique because various astronauts recorded the narrations and offered their own personal insight and experiences with what you’re looking at in each exhibit. 

Second, some of the exhibits have an alternate recording made just for children so it can be explained in terms they would understand. (We’ve come across this same equipment in other places we’ve visited, but this is the first place that had alternate recordings for kids to enjoy.)

The large Visitors Center offers many different options to be explored, and you can do them in any order you wish. We chose to go to the introductory film first. This was a great movie orienting you to NASA and the projects it has tackled over the years since its inception by President John Kennedy. It was also narrated by astronauts and was great. While they focused on the many triumphs achieved, they also were faithful to remember the Challenger tragedy in the film. I’ll never forget the looks on the faces of the men in Mission Control as they watched it happen and immediately knew what it meant—looks of instant pain, horror, grief and shock. It was very moving to me.

Next, we decided to take the 75-minute Tram Tour of the actual site. After another intense search by security guards, we loaded into a long tram and happened to be assigned the front row seats for the duration of the tour. They handed us orange-colored cards with numbers on them and said that we must keep them at all times on the tour and that they would be collected at the end. No one on our tour would be allowed to leave until all the cards had been collected and accounted for, so we were told to be sure and keep them in a safe place. (Later on the tour Tucker lost his and another tour member found it—I guess that means we almost got to stay and work at NASA!)

The Tram Tour took us all around the many buildings in the center of the complex. The buildings all have similar architecture, but are various sizes and shapes. They are all identified only by numbers--such as 19, or 5S or 3. As we rode around, I became increasingly amazed at how much of a ghost town it looked like. There were many large parking lots on the perimeters and near each building, but we probably only saw 20 cars the whole time. (It reminded me of going by a shopping center on Christmas Day and how eerie that seems after having seen it so full the day before.) Curiosity finally got the better of me and I asked the driver if it was because of increased security—and were they bussing all the people needed from locations further away. She said, “No, it’s Saturday and most of them work Monday through Friday. During those days it’s hard to find a spot to park and the traffic is horrible.” So much for that mystery—and what a cushy job, huh? 

We were allowed in three buildings. My favorite spot was the large building that held the Space Shuttle simulators. For each hour they will spend in space, future astronauts spend 100 hours in this building training and honing their skills at various tasks. We got to see a wide variety of equipment, including a full-size mock-up of a Space Shuttle. I especially enjoyed seeing the robotic arm made by Canada, and a new one that is even more powerful that will be used on SkyHab, the next generation of space station being planned and tested now. (An interesting side-note about the current Space Shuttle arm—while in space it can lift thousands of pounds and has the same complete range-of-motion that a human arm has. However, when on earth, it can’t even lift it’s own weight!)

When we finished our tram tour, we enjoyed the many exhibits and hands-on demonstrations at the Visitors Center. After lunch, the kids enjoyed a special kids-only area and a working model of the Space Shuttle cockpit while I enjoyed seeing the largest collection of Moon rocks anywhere on earth. I also enjoyed the Starbucks cart right in the middle of the lobby, but I don’t think they have one of those in outer space yet, do they? (I’m sure that it’s on the planning boards for the new space station though!)

All in all, it was a wonderful day at the Space Center and I would heartily recommend it to you and your family if you were ever in the Houston area. Plan to spend at least 3-4 hours, and it would be easy to spend an entire day.