Wednesday December 7 (NASA Johnson Space Centre)

Wednesday December 7 (NASA Johnson Space Centre)

I slept like a log so felt reasonably refreshed when I was woken up by the alarm. After a chat and breakfast we set off for NASA about 90 minutes to drive there, well at least that is if you don’t get lost, lol!! MJ has only ever been a passenger before and, in her defence, I have to say it was not well sign posted! We did see the sign to get off the freeway but then neither of us saw another sign so we turned right, as it turns out we should have turned left, lol!! We drove quite a way and then there was this ranch on the left with white fences. I asked if they had horses there and at that point MJ realised she had never seen it before!!

 

We stopped and asked a couple of guys and then we turned around and drove in the other direction. MJ then gave me her phone and I found the directions so we did reach or destination. 

The entrance is impressive as the Jumbo Jet that carried the shuttles from Edwards back to Canaveral is sited there with a replica shuttle on its back!

We went in and found that the next tram to tour Johnson would go in 20 minutes so we had a quick look round the centre before heading back! 

We drove round the facility, which is a working facility, and it is huge, much bigger than I imagined. As we entered we passed the clinic so the people who work there are well catered for! 

This has basically been the heart of NASA since 1965 when they first worked on getting to the moon. They have been involved in all the shuttle missions and are now working on the next generation, the Orion.

Our first stop was at Mission Control. We went up to the third floor and there is the original Mission Control with all the original equipment, with no computers of course! There were no manuals and the people working there basically wrote the manuals as they worked. 

The average age of the people who worked in there was 26 and they were all guys. We sat in the viewing area and the seats were the originals, red, and had the ashtrays on the back of them, some of today’s youngsters think they are for cell phones, lol! 

Much has changed with the advent of modern technology and we saw a live feed from the current Mission Control on the floor below, I would love to have been able to see it! 

Also, the director of the Space centre is a woman and she has been on a four shuttle missions.

The next stop was at the Space Vehicle Mock Up facility. This is a huge building eight storeys high and the size of a football field and they have mock ups of shuttles as well as other vehicles, there is also an Orion module and there were two people working inside. 

We saw so much evidence of the international collaboration that is going on today. We then walked on and saw a robot below us being filmed and there were obviously some discussions going on. They are working on robots to assist astronauts and they already have an upper body that works but they need to develop working legs for it.

As we moved along the first robot started moving and the driver told us it is being developed to help with disaster relief. It can lift up to 500 pounds and can go into areas where humans are unable to. Another great extension of the work they do at NASA that will help people on the ground.

On the way to our final stop at Rocket Park, we passed a double circle of trees that were planted as a memorial to the astronauts who had lost their loves on mission. Rocket Park houses a Saturn V rocket in its entirety, the different stages are separated a wee bit. 

It was incredible to see up close the five engines on the first stage and then to walk down to the other end where the almost tiny lunar module sat! The original long horn cattle still run on land beside the centre, some of them have very long horns!

We returned to the visitor centre and explored the shuttle replica as well as the Jumbo that carried it. Each piece of the shuttle's heat shield was individually coded and, inside, it was fascinating to stand behind the cockpit and look at all the controls they had to work with. 

The robotic arm that helps the astronauts to carry out their tasks was from Canada. The Jumbo was specially reinforced throughout to spread the weight of the shuttle. There was also a lot of information of all the testing they did with models to prove that the idea was feasible. There was also information about the building where the astronauts prepare for working in zero gravity, they do this underwater in a huge pool. We then wandered through a replica of the ISS and it is larger than I expected with some models of people carrying out normal every day activities, they certainly developed 360 degree thinking.

It was then time to head home and, would you believe it, we got lost again. Somehow we missed 45 and ended up on the wrong highway, it was quite a long drive until we found 45 again so we were quite late home and had to go for BBQ for tea, it was very tasty with plenty of  beef in the bun!