| NASA Space Center, Houston, Texas |
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| Written by Susan Hollingshead | |||
| Thursday, 25 March 2004 00:00 | |||
 My man is on the mend....Rick woke up this morning feeling a lot better. Our friend Brad works near The NASA Space Center so he had suggested we accompany him to where he worked and from there proceed to The Space Center for a tour while he attended to business. The weather was very unsettled but warm and muggy in the mid 20'sC (80's F). On our way to NASA, Brad took us out to lunch at Perry's Grille & Steakhouse, his favourite spot in that area. What a beautiful restaurant with a fabulous menu! We enjoyed a delicious lunch while we learned more about our friend's new career. He is a Project Manager with a large land and housing development company. After lunch we toured their latest project, where we left our host and then we ventured over to the space center. The NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, home of the Mission Control Center is a very impressive educational facility where they monitor every Space Shuttle mission to space. This is where astronauts are trained and the Space Shuttle program is managed. There are a lot of interactive displays for young and old alike as well as a tram tour for those inclined. We saw a short demonstration in a mock space station showing the audience some of what it would be like to live on a real station. As well there were several virtual rides available for an extra fee as well as displays of various space suits worn by different astronauts over the past several years. We were able to tour the space deck of what used to be an actual space shuttle and sit in the cockpits of a number of retired aircraft. There is also a gift shop, a restaurant, a couple of movie theatres and a large photograph display of every crew that has been to space, including the two crews who perished.
When we were finished, we went back to pick Brad up at his work and from there headed back to where we had left our car. On the way there he showed us where the Houston Harbour is, one of the busiest in the US. There were dozens and dozens of oil refineries along with miles of lots filled with imported cars. When we got to our car, we said our goodbyes and went back to the RV. We decided to start our trek north tonight to avoid driving through Dallas during the rush hour tomorrow.
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