101 Places to See Before You're 12 - A Space Place

A Space Place

For our most recent trip to Mississippi we had a number of unplanned stops along the way, but this one was planned - the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

(yes, I bought the photo)

The boys and I had never been to Rocket Center but David went years ago.  He was eager to show us all around. 

Back in the 1950s former German engineers and scientists went to either the US or Russia to work on their space programs.  The US set up this location in Huntsville to focus on developing the technology to take us into space.

Thomas has asked me repeatedly to caption this next photo:

"3, 2, 1 BLAST OFF!"

Inside the Rocket Center there is a huge rocket hanging on the ceiling - it's pretty impressive.

Many kids (and adults) come to the Space and Rocket Center every summer for Space Camp which I'm sure is a lot of fun.

Dad explaining the different stages of the rockets.  There's a Star Wars exhibit opening up this weekend that they were advertising.  Unfortunately, we missed it going a weekend early.

I learned a lot while we were here.  The displays are set up nicely and there is plenty to read about and see.  We also watched a 3D movie called "Fly Me to the Moon" - a cartoon depiction of the first moon landing.  It was pretty cute.

Yes, I was there too!

Looking at the rocket from the other end of the space center.

Inside a rocket.

They had 3 rides that the boys were pretty excited about but BOY was it hot outside!  Luckily we were there on a day when there were no lines.  I've heard of people waiting an hour to ride.

David and Thomas went on this ride that goes up about 75 feet in the air.  Thomas LOVED it.  David's stomach is still up there.  Unfortunately, Brennan didn't quite make the height restriction so he rode the younger kids' version.

Lots of military equipment around as well.

From the Book:

#7 - A Space Place

FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE - BLAST OFF!  Experience 'g-force acceleration', feel what a blast-off is like, sit inside a rocket, see pictures of the sun's surface, and get a taste of life on Mars.  You can do all this and more at a space center or museum.  Space exploration is an amazing combination of science and imagination - the perfect example of what people mean when they say "if you can dream it, you can do it."  Scientists and engineers have made it possible to go places and see things that no one would have thought possible just a generation ago.  Start dreaming now, and who knows how far you can go...

As an aside, a few people have asked if I quit doing the 52 in 52 project - making sure I am in a picture every week. No - I am still doing it! It's just that I've gotten better about handing the camera over and making sure I'm in photos regularly! Then I link my post to Carin's blog each week.