Kennedy's Moon Challenge...

[James Hackerott]

...within a week will be fulfilled - recreated now as a National Historic Landmark.

This space junkie visited Space City Museum in Clear Lake City south of Houston last month. I took the special tram side-tour to Mission Control (now the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center) where Apollo and other missions were managed. We climbed the 87 steps to reach the visitor's viewing room behind the operations area. I was happy there were not 90 steps!

The abandoned control room came under great disrepair over the years. It took several years with much research, effort and money returning the control and viewing rooms to near pristine condition. The consoles, TV and large screens displays, as well as authentic staplers, coffee mugs, percolator, ashtrays (without the butts), manuals and binders, paint, carpet style and so on are frozen at the moment of Neil Armstrong's first historic step. The realism is a requirement to qualify as a National Historic Landmark, IIRC. A major contributor to restoring the consoles to their prior glory came from the Hutchinson, Kansas Cosmosphere museum's restoration staff.
A great visit for the entire Space City museum all in all, but be sure to remember where you parked.
James

[Charles Collins]

...within a week will be fulfilled - recreated now as a National Historic Landmark.

This space junkie visited Space City Museum in Clear Lake City south of Houston last month. I took the special tram side-tour to Mission Control (now the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center) where Apollo and other missions were managed. We climbed the 87 steps to reach the visitor's viewing room behind the operations area. I was happy there were not 90 steps!

The abandoned control room came under great disrepair over the years. It took several years with much research, effort and money returning the control and viewing rooms to near pristine condition. The consoles, TV and large screens displays, as well as authentic staplers, coffee mugs, percolator, ashtrays (without the butts), manuals and binders, paint, carpet style and so on are frozen at the moment of Neil Armstrong's first historic step. The realism is a requirement to qualify as a National Historic Landmark, IIRC. A major contributor to restoring the consoles to their prior glory came from the Hutchinson, Kansas Cosmosphere museum's restoration staff.
A great visit for the entire Space City museum all in all, but be sure to remember where you parked.
James

Very cool! I noticed the rotary dial telephone and looked up when the first touchstone phones were introduced. It was November 18, 1963 in the Pittsburgh area. JFK was still alive at that time!

I was fortunate enough to be at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a night launch of the space shuttle many years ago. Words cannot adequately describe that experience!

[James Hackerott]

Thanks Charles. And I'm a little envious of your launch experience, as a large rocket launch is still on my bucket list 

[Charles Collins]

Thanks Charles. And I'm a little envious of your launch experience, as a large rocket launch is still on my bucket list 

Coincidentally, I found an old T-shirt from that mission. It was STS-44 and here is some NASA footage of the launch:

[James Hackerott]

Coincidentally, I found an old T-shirt from that mission. It was STS-44 and here is some NASA footage of the launch:

That's got to be something you'll never forget. One of the teasers for the NASA museum was a full (simulated) experience of a Saturn V launch. After the Mission Control tour that was my next goal. Somehow, I ended up in a theater that showed a looped, short generic summary of  NASA programs . It included a short segment of a launch, but with anemic affect. After I'm back home I did a little digging and realized there was also a separate theater called “Blast-Off! Theater”. Hmm, guess I'll make another visit just to check it out.