NASA Adventure

Over breakfast last Friday, I asked my cousin all sorts of questions before we left for the Space Center Houston. "Where will the tram ride take us?" "Are there shows?" "Are there any other rides?"

He answered all my questions with equal seriousness: "To the Lyndon Johnson Space Center where blah, blah, blah..." "Yes." "Yes." Then I fired off my last question: "Is there some kind of ride which has zero gravity?"

His answer: Yes. Only I have to ride an airplane that goes up higher than the normal plane that will go up and then down, like a roller coaster, in order to achieve zero gravity. And only people who are training to be astronauts can go on this. Oh, oh-kay. Zero gravity cannot be achieved on the ground (uh, so sue me. i just thought that with the superior technology of NASA, they have already invented some zero gravity room on earth. apparently, it's on air ü). Moving on, I was able to learn later on that the plane that's used in achieving zero gravity is called the C9B, or otherwise known as the "Vomit Comet." It is so nicknamed because of its parabolic trajectory path. (Wow, do I sound so professional! ;-)) On earth, they have a diving pool in the Astronaut Training Facility in order to simulate zero-g.

Astronaut Training Facility

The rocket Saturn V is kept in a large storage in Rocket Park. It is the last rocket made, and because of the advent of the space shuttles, it was never launched.

Saturn V

ain't this Saturn V rocket long?

rocket boosters of Saturn V

take a closer look

Inside the Space Center is the Starship Gallery, where there's a space time line, exhibits (such as the Apollo 17 Command Module, space suits, the inside of the Space Lab, etc.) as well as a display of moon rocks.

l-r: basalt, breccia, anorthosite, breccia

touchable moon rock. =)

this is me and another astronaut on the moon. i'm the one on the right. ;-)

Apollo 17 Command Module

Space Center Houston also has theaters, one of which is the Blast Off. It's actually a new attraction at the Center, and it features a simulation of a launch---"over 7 million pounds of thrust pushes a 4 1/2 million pound vehicle skyward." It was an awesome feeling. After the lunch... er, launch, people go straight to the Blast Off Theater where they are updated on the latest news in space exploration. This is also where they enlightened the clueless visitors about the zero gravity room. There is, however, a real zero gravity room---the Zero-G Diner. =)

I watched another film in another theater, which is called the Northrop Grumman Theater. The film takes longer than the first one, about 30 minutes, but it was so worth it. It's about the people who undergo training before they can be sent to missions up in outer space. When the real shuttle was being launched, I felt I was also in it. The view of the earth from outer space is very beautiful; the five-storey screen made the experience even more incredible. Oh yeah, and the film's title? It's "To be an Astronaut." I definitely wanted to be an astronaut after watching it. =)

There are more pics in my multiply page, so if you'd like to see my ugly fesz as well, click here and here. Be warned! ;-)