NASA SPACE CENTER HOUSTON

After many U-turns we finally ended up at the entrance to NASA Space Center Houston. Upon entering the facility we got to view a film on the History of Houston Space Center. Then it was off on the tram to tour where the Astronaut's train. The first stop: Original Mission Control Center where the words Neil Armstrong said from the Moon "The Eagle has landed" were heard and a roar of cheers went up. "One small step for a man, One giant leap for mankind" was also received in this same Control room. Imagine, there was only 428 megabytes of RAM for the whole control center. How far we're come since then. They even had rotary dials on the equipment instead of digital. Back on the tram and off we went to the actual training center where the Astronauts learn all they will need to know once they are up in space. Everything there is an exact replica of the real thing, so that they can test all types of malfunction scenarios. The only thing missing are the wings on the Shuttle, because they don't need them for training purposes. We also saw the building where all the Moon rocks are kept, where the Astronauts are quartined 7 days before leaving on a mission and the Astronauts Circle of Trees Memorial park. There is a tree planted there for each Astronaut who has died, some during their missions. The final building we went into was where they house the Apollo 18 rocket. The Apollo 18 mission was cancelled prior to the rocket ever be sent into space. And of course, we had to pass McDonald's where the Astronauts snack on McFlying Fries.