 From Texas, You Can Explore The Universe!
 Johnson Space Center -- So much has happened in such a short period of time, it's difficult to get a handle on just how much the U.S. Space Program has accomplished over the last 45 years.
From the early days of the Friendship 7 to the latest scheduled space shuttle mission, America's space program has grown from little more than an idea at the Think Tank to the most prestigous scientific exploration project of the human race.
Sure there have been set backs and failures, just like with any and all worthwhile endevours. The tragedies of Apollo One and the Challenger and Columbia accidents will always be remembered as dark days of American history.
On the plus side, the accomplishments of the space program counter balance the price we have paid, from conquering the moon to participating in the first in-orbit International Space Station, not to mention the thousands of technology advances that have impacted our world over the last four decades.
 Johnson Space Center is located in Space City, USA - also known as Houston - in the NASA/Clearlake area 25 miles south of downtown. From here, America's space missions are planned, engineered and controlled. This is where our astronauts train and work, where countless enigeers, managers, project directors - and others - work each day in shifts around the clock. The Space Center represents the most advanced space technology available on Earth.
And it also represents one of Texas best kept secret playgrounds.
Leading the way with advanced educationasl programs for the public, the Space Center is home to a number of exhibits and attractions open to the public. In fact, the Center has become a major entertainment attraction in the Lone Star State.
 For the kids in the family, the Space Center offers a comprehensive series of exhibits designed to entertain and spark the imaginations of young people. Kids Space Place was created for children of all ages who have always dreamed of experiencing the same things astronauts do in space. Interactive exhibits and themed area make exploring the different aspects of space and the manned space flight program loads of fun.
The Astronaut Gallery is an unparalled exhibit outside Mazda Theater featuring the world's best collection of spacesuits. Astronaut John Young's ejection suit and Judy Resnik's T-38 flightsuit are two of the many spacesuits on display.
The walls of the Astronaut Gallery also contain portraits and crew photos of every U.S. astronaut who has flown in space.
Of interest to the entire famil;y is an exhibit that explains the new International Space Station project. Traveling 250 miles above the Earth at 17,500 mph, the International Space Station (ISS) will be 361 feet long when completed in 2006, as big as two football fields side by side. It's taken the cooperation of 16 nations to make the ISS a reality, and it will require 43 separate flights to assemble. But until recently, this enormous undertaking was represented at Space Center Houston by a structure not much bigger than a child's toy model. As the official visitors center of NASA's Johnson Space Center, Space Center Houston houses 50,000 square feet of exhibits detailing the history of America's space program.
Visitors enter the exhibit through a 20-foot cylinder, a truncated structure designed to look like a node of the actual station. Six kiosks, built at different heights to accommodate both children and adults, are situated on distinct planes within the node, like spokes on a wheel. The space-walk visuals are displayed on individual 20-inch displays supplied by SGI, and each display's graphics are created with one of six Silicon Graphics Octane2 visual workstations.
The virtual astronauts not only explore many parts of the station from a first-person point of view, but do so as if they, like actual astronauts, were traveling with the slow, gentle movements characteristic of a weightless environment. Move through the Space Station too rapidly, and you'll bounce uncontrollably off a wall, as would an actual station resident.
The Space Center is also home to artifacts and hardware on display in the Starship Gallery, which trace the progression of America’s Manned Space Flight. This incredible collection includes: an original model of the Goddard Rocket; the actual Mercury Atlas 9 “Faith 7” capsule flown by Gordon Cooper; the Gemini V Spacecraft piloted by Pete Conrad and Gordon Cooper; a Lunar Roving Vehicle Trainer, the Apollo 17 Command Module, the giant Skylab Trainer, and the Apollo-Soyuz Trainer.
OPERATING HOURS
10am - 5pm weekdays, 10am - 7pm weekends.
Extended hours throughout the summer and some holidays.
ADMISSION FEES
Adults $17.95
Children (4-11) $13.95
Seniors $16.95
Parking $4.00
Space Center Houston is located at 1601 NASA Road 1, Houston, TX 77058, approximately 25 miles south of downtown Houston in the NASA/Clear Lake area.
Phone 281-244-2100
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Rio Grande Valley