Adventures in the South, 16

 South East Texas 

We spent two nights camped between Galveston and Houston, along the Eastern Gulf coast of Texas to allow for a full day to tour the Space Center in Houston. After getting our trailer disconnected at our campground in the afternoon we headed toward the island of Galveston.

Traveling along the gulf coastline we came upon the Galveston Pleasure Pier, developed in 1940’s, which cast an interesting silhouette into the Gulf of Mexico on our drive along Seawall Blvd. This iconic entertainment zone, was at one time known as the largest of its kind in the country. 

Continuing our sightseeing drive we arrived at the oldest neighborhood in town. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the East End Historic District spans over 50 square city blocks of homes. The District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Its oldest homes date to the mid 1850’s. We were impressed by block upon block of Victorian style homes of two and three stories which were well maintained. 

A few mansions that have survived terrible hurricanes through the years, reflect the fact that in the early 1900’s “The Strand” neighborhood was known as the Wall Street of the Southwest, boasting 26 millionaires living in a five-block span!

The downtown area has a lot of historic buildings as well as some amazing churches.

Space Center Houston

The Space Center is both a working facility and a museum. Having grown up in the Space Race Era, we had a blast exploring the history and artifacts of the Race to the Moon, as well as learning the future plans of space exploration and travel.

Our Astronaut Training Facility tour took us into a huge facility where we climbed 87 steps up to a cat walk with views of the full scale space station modules, docking mechanisms and assorted equipment below. Here the astronauts train in the ISS replica to learn to use, and repair all of the components and systems of the Space Station. We learned that the ISS circles the earth at a rate of 16 times in 24 hours and is the length of a football field!

“The Eagle has landed!”

Later we took a tour to the Apollo Mission Control Center, which was where the Apollo Missions’ support teams communicated with and tracked all aspects of the Lunar Landings, the Shuttle Program and the International Space Station. 

We sat in the VIP gallery behind the control room, which looks as it did when the Apollo 11 moon landing was televised from this very room and listened while we watched that historic moment replayed when we first landed on the moon!

One last tour took us to Rocket Park, where we saw one of three remaining Saturn V rockets. Displays walked us through all of the Apollo Missions as we walked the length of the rocket, suspended horizontally from one end of the building to the other. It was massive!

Before and after tours, we enjoyed various displays about the International Space Station and Mission to Mars.

 

Astronauts were seen floating overhead. 

Steve posed with astronauts.

Lori held the moon up.

We even walked through a replica Space Shuttle piggybacked on the actual Boeing 747 which was used to transport the shuttle between Florida, Texas and New Mexico.

Across the street an astronaut (or is that Steve) was dropping in for some fries at McDonalds!

A few days after we visited the Space Center in Houston we heard the news that Frank Borman had passed away at the age of 95. He was the commander of NASA’s 1968 Apollo 8 spaceflight, 

whose astronauts became the first men to orbit the moon. The iconic image called Earthrise” was taken as earth came into view after their fourth orbit of the moon. Astronaut Gorman, in a Christmas time message from space read lines from Genesis. It was not that long ago when a quotation from the Bible giving glory to God was the norm! What an appropriate response when viewing the wonders of the universe! 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth….

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬, ‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you don’t remember this image you can see it at the link below!

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/apollo-8-earthrise/

We have some more Adventures on the Road ahead of us as we head north toward Dallas, and then head west toward home, after a visit with our grandkids and their parents.