NASA Johnson Space Center

The last day of our trip was spent at the Johnson Space Center where Matt works when in Houston.  Matt had arranged for us to get a special access tour of the facilities.  I can honestly say that other than having lunch at the White House, it was the coolest thing I have ever done.  We got to see things that nobody else gets to see.  We started with the Rocket that went to the moon for the first time.  Super cool.  We went to see the moon rocks that nobody ever gets to see.  We also got tot see the state of the art stuff that they use to study the moon rocks and other things that come back from missions.  super cool. From there, we went to Mission Control.  We were taken to the original mission control room that is not in operation any longer.  The same room made famous in the Apollo 13 movie.  So super cool.  They are trying to figure out how to preserve it but for now it is pretty much the same as it was left.  We got to hear stories of that day and what happened from some of the people who were actually working in mission control at the time.  We even got to play around with the red phone and say Houston we Have a Problem about 1000 times.  We then went to the current mission control and watched as they monitored Mark Kelly and the others at the International Space Station.  So super super cool.  After that we went to the huge warehouse the houses all the mock ups for space.  We saw all the stuff that they are working on to get to Mars as well as the robonaut thing that is at the International Space Station.  Clearly, I am a NASA geek but it was all so cool to see this stuff up close.  After this we were taken to Ellington Field where they have the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.  This was the icing on the cake!  They have the worlds largest indoor swimming pool with a full scale mock up of the International Space Station.  It is 40 feet deep and the size of a football field.  to top it off there were actual astronauts training on the day we were there.  Being underwater helps simulate the lack of gravity so that they can practice repairing things on the space station.  We also got to see all the space suit preparation.  While we were there they were putting suits together for upcoming missions and we were able to see everything that goes into a suit, including the infamous NASA diaper. Everybody at NASA was so nice and so cool.  Everyone just wanted to share their passion for whatever it was that they were working on.  We met a scientist that works with some one of a kind electron microscope thing (clearly, this is why I am not in the science field) who would have talked to us for hours about all the cool stuff he gets to do for NASA.  It was a good learning opportunity for all of us but basically it was just a super cool day.  Thanks Matt for showing us around NASA and letting us come to work for the week with you.  You may regret saying that you hate traveling alone and loved having us there....

checking out the moon rocks

special access elevators to Mission Control

monitoring the ISS

Mars Rover Vehicle

Orion Capsule that will take people to Mars

space suit parts

showing us what the astronauts are working on that day