Space Center Houston★5.0

How to Get There

Get on I-45 S/Gulf Fwy from Walker St. Continue on I-45 S to Nassau Bay. Continue on Second St.

Overview

Space Center Houston is a 250,000-square-foot science museum that serves as the official visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control and astronaut training. The museum displays around 400 space artifacts across permanent and traveling exhibits and theaters focused on the history of human spaceflight, and it runs STEM programs for visitors of all ages.

Things to Do

See Independence Plaza
Walk through the world's only full-size Space Shuttle replica, Independence, mounted atop one of the two original Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, NASA 905. It's the only place where the public can enter both vehicles.

Take the Tram Tour into Johnson Space Center
An open-air tram carries visitors into the working space center, with stops at Building 30 (the Historic Mission Operations Control Room and Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center), the Building 9 Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, and Rocket Park, home to a restored Saturn V rocket. A five-hour guided tour adds stops at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab and the International Space Station museum for an extra cost.

Explore Mission Mars
Developed with NASA, this exhibit covers current plans for Mars travel through a virtual reality wall, real-time weather forecasts, a touchable Mars meteorite, a full-size Orion research capsule, an Orion spacecraft simulator, and a look at the next generation of Mars rovers.

Other Attractions

• The lectern President John F. Kennedy used for his 1962 Rice University speech announcing the goal to land an American on the Moon, on display in Destiny Theater.
• Space Center Theater, a five-story 4K theater showing EVA 23 and Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo.
• Destiny Theater's HD screening of Human Destiny, a short film on the center's history.
• Living in Space, a live interactive show that uses projection mapping to portray daily life aboard the International Space Station.
• The Stellar Science Show, where a center Crew Member leads guests through hands-on rocket science experiments.
• The Mission Briefing Center, with live updates on current NASA missions.
• "Lunch with an Astronaut," a paid add-on experience.
• The International Space Station Gallery, with interactive live shows, a Robonaut, and artifacts that have actually flown in space.
• Talon Park, where a pair of NASA T-38 Talon jets greet visitors at the campus entrance.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Space Center Houston", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.