Visiting the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center

When Jaime was in the sixth grade she went to Space Camp for a week.  We were never there so, after all these years, we went to be sure it was a safe place to send our little girl.


The pictures of the rockets just pulled Bob right in.


There was special exhibit, which we really enjoyed:  100 Years of Von Braun:  His American Journey. 


Bob read all the details of everything.


He liked the Skylab exhibit where you could walk inside and see what it was all about.


We could see Space Camp in this building.  They have a mockup of the shuttle for the campers to use.


These kids are Space Campers monitoring their "launch".


There were rockets outside.


Lots and lots of rockets.


Inside they had a Saturn V laying on it’s side.


The engines are huge!


It was hard to get a picture of the entire rocket.


Bob looks really, really small next to the engine.  One engine!


All these wires are the brain of the rocket.


They the Saturn V hanging from the ceiling, broken down into sections.  It’s amazing!


Here’s the capsule itself. 


You could crawl into one and try it out.  My side of the dials and switches lit up! Bob’s laughing, but I bet I made him nervous!  


Remember when the astronauts landed they had to go into a trailer and be quarantined for who knows how long?  This is the inside of that trailer.


Can you imagine?  First they stayed inside that little space capsule, and then they had to stay inside this little camper.  It’s not as roomy as ours!


And the dream goes on.  This is what the next space capsule will look like, they said.


Outside again, the Space Shuttle Pathfinder was featured.  It’s a space shuttle simulator made of steel and wood and was used to check roadway clearances, crane capabilities, etc.


 
I know Bob’s wishing he would have had a chance to ride that thing.


It’s size is amazing.  Look how tiny the people under it look!


This is the Space Camp dorm.  They also have an A-12 Blackbird spy plane which saw from the road but missed while walking through the exhibits.  How did we do that????

We had a good time visiting the Space and Rocket Center and Space Camp, but our next road trip is one of my favorites!  Check back soon.