Travel Log: Houston Trip - Saturday, October 1, 2016

A trip to Houston is not complete without a trip to the Space Center. The day we picked was beautiful and the crowds were so light! As one of the first ones in, we headed straight for the replica of the shuttle Independence which is mounted on top of a 747 plane that was used to transport it.

It was pretty amazing to see what a small space four people had to live in during their time in space. There was a small area on the flight deck for the two driving the plane and then another small living area on the mid deck for sleeping, eating, living, etc. Most of the shuttle was cargo space which was not pressurized so they had to put on their entire space suit and go through a chamber to deal with the difference in pressure. The areas with the metal flooring and red railing were added for viewer access and not part of the shuttle.

Here are the controls on the Flight Deck:

Here is the cargo area:

Photos from the Mid Deck:

Sleeping area - They had to sleep strapped to the wall or they would float around the shuttle.

Spacesuit used for take off and landing

Toilet

Chamber they entered when they needed to go to the unpressurized cargo area

The 747 the Independence was mounted on top of was used for transporting shuttles. Because it had to support the weight of the shuttle, as much as possible was stripped out of the inside of the 747 to make it as light as possible. Green supporting bulkheads were added.

Here is a photo of a black box which are actually normally orange:

The museum then had lots of artifacts from the many missions in space, information on the International Space Station, information on moon rocks, and other replicas.

Here is an early pilot chair and two versions of space suits, the orange one being the newer one:

We listened to a great presentation on the living on the International Space Station. Here are some photos of a replica of the Space Station:

Sleeping area with an exercise bike

Toilet

It was interesting to learn that astronauts' spines grow two inches, their heart gets smaller, and they suffer calcium loss in microgravity. The heart goes back to normal size upon returning to earth. To combat the calcium loss, they exercise two hours a day, seven days a week. There is a medic on sight who regularly checks their health and communicates back with a physician on earth.

The ISS sees 16 sunrises and sunsets a day and so at night, they black out the windows to help the astronauts sleep.

They typically work ten hour days on weekdays and five hours on Saturdays and also have time to relax by listening to music, watching movies, and talking to family back home.

One of the neat things about the International Space Station is that it is bringing countries together. Canada, the US, Japan, and Russian have partnered with 11 member states of the European Space Agency.

We also took the Tram Tour to the Historic Mission Control and to see some pretty impressive rockets.

Historic Mission Control was used up until 1992. In later years they added the desktop monitors but the consoles themselves remain relatively unchanged. The control center relied on mainframe computers that filled a room at least as large on a lower floor. The mainframes have since been removed. The view area we sat in has been there from the beginning and while the control center was active was used for families of the astronauts and VIPs. Now tour groups cycle in and out of there each day. The current Mission Control is housed in the same building. Here are some photos: