A Boyhood Dream Fulfilled: Space-Geek Tour of the USA

[Human]

After the tour, the first room I went to was the “Exploring the Planets” exhibition. Of all the exhibitions in the museum, this was the one I spent the most time in. Read the very first post in this trip report: planetary exploration was one of the huge things that made me a space geek in the first place, and even though I’d had an indescribably great time at Johnson and Kennedy, those places were more geared towards crewed spaceflight and the moon. So I was totally in my element in the “Exploring the Planets” room – in fact it once again brought back my boyhood excitement about planetary exploration.









I was pleased to see that in at least some of the exhibits, Pluto was given its rightful place!


I really can’t get enough of this stuff.





I spent many minutes at this interactive touchscreen monitor outlining the history of human exploration of the Solar System. It brought back a lot of happy childhood (and adult) memories, as well as teaching me some things I didn’t know!







My time ended in a large room with a 360 degree full-size display about travelling to, and landing on, various planets and moons.


I was in space-geek paradise! But there was a lot more to come.

 

[Human]

Across from the Planets exhibition was the “Nation of Speed” room. It’s focussed on humanity’s quest for speed on land, water and in the air. I must admit that I don’t exactly consider myself a “rev-head”, but it was still interesting and fascinating in parts, even though I didn’t quite study the exhibits in the same detail as I had in the previous room… Everything you see in these photos is authentic. In other words, for example, that really is Evel Knievel's motorbike and Mario Andretti's car.








After I left this room I had a quick detour, as one does, to touch some meteorites.

 

[Human]

The next stop was the “Destination Moon” room. Was I all mooned out as a result of my time at Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers? Are you kidding?


One of the first things you see after you walk in is Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 Mercury capsule and spacesuit – Shepard was the first American in space in 1961. Not for the first time, I marvelled at how tiny it was. The longest Mercury mission went for over 34 hours – it would have been like being stuck in a small box.



After that came another Gemini capsule: this is Gemini VII, whose astronauts were cooped up in there for 14 days -- which frankly boggles the mind. The display explained that the mission “was primarily medical. They endured experiments regarding food, waste, and sleep”. I assume that’s the sanitised version of what went on up there… I remember Jim Lovell interviewed about this mission and I do recall him saying that after 2 weeks in space the smell inside the Gemini capsule was almost unbearable!


[By the way, the NASA “Gemini” programme is correctly pronounced “Geminee”, not “Gemineye”. If you hear the astronauts and other NASA staff who were involved in the programme interviewed about it, they always pronounce it “Geminee”.]

The final part of the exhibition is the Apollo 11 section. There are three amazing artefacts on display: the Apollo 11 Command Module, Neil Armstrong’s space suit, and actual recovered pieces of the Saturn rocket that fell to earth after the stage separation (thanks to Jeff Bezos who paid for the recovery from deep in the ocean). I can’t believe that this is my third genuine Command Module in a week! (Apollo 14 was in Houston and Apollo 17 was in Florida … or is it the other way around?). Maybe I was possibly a little less awed, a little less emotional than I would have been if I hadn’t been to the other two Space Centers? But still … This is the APOLLO 11 COMMAND MODULE! And NEIL ARMSTRONG’S ACTUAL SPACESUIT WHICH HE WORE ON THE MOON! If I’m not dumbstruck, and emotional, at those things, then I need to hand back my Space Geek passport!










Also on display were a Lunar Module and Gene Cernan’s actual space boots – the last boots to touch the moon, in 1972.



It was good to see that there was substantial space given to the Russian space programme too. This is not something that the NASA Space Centers had done (nor was it part of their brief so this isn’t a criticism).

 

[Human]

The next room I visited was the "One World Connected" room (and no, it was not about the airline alliance!). The theme of the exhibition was communications technology, and how space travel and satellite technology has revolutionised communcation, especially communication between different nations and different parts of the world.





I didn’t spend a huge amount of time in this room, although the display on shortwave radio reminded me of many geeky early mornings I’d spent as a teenager playing with a shortwave radio that I’d saved up for and bought. It was such a thrill hearing radio broadcasts from the other side of the world. Technology has moved on quite a bit since then!



I was also really interested in the small “Earthrise” display. “Earthrise” is the famous and moving photo that astronaut Bill Anders took from the Moon in 1968, and it was a thrill to see the actual camera with which he took the photo.





The exhibition also had a large display on communications satellites, how they have revolutionised the world, and the technology behind them.




I left the room and went to the “Planetarium”, which is actually a large domed cinema. Inside I watched a 25-minute movie on the Solar System; the movie screened up above us, onto the domed ceiling. It was really well done but photography was not permitted during the movie itself.




After the movie it was lunchtime. Given that this whole trip is, in so many ways, an homage to my teenage-boy geekiness, I thought it not inappropriate to yield to my teenage boy appetite, and so I had a pepperoni pizza. The coffee was characteristically disappointing.

 

[Human]

After lunch was all about aviation. First stop was the Wright Brothers display. Pride of place, obviously, was the actual, original 1903 Wright Flyer – the first aeroplane in the world to fly! There was a major display of all things Wright Brothers, including detailed biographical information about their lives.












I did spend quite a bit of time at the Wright Flyer – I was in the presence of yet another amazing piece of history, something that I learned about in school. There it was, in front of me. It was amazing, incredible, fascinating … yet I didn’t feel emotionally moved, like I had with the space stuff. Maybe because this is something that didn’t take place during my lifetime? Maybe because I’m more of a space geek than an aviation geek (though I do consider myself an aviation geek)? Or maybe now was not the time to worry about that, and I should just enjoy the display in my own way without feeling guilty about enjoying it the “right” way and/or psychoanalysing myself? Happily, I chose the latter.

I moved on to another room which was all about early flight (pre- and post- Wright brothers). It contained various early gliders and flying machines which had enjoyed, or not enjoyed, success. Also there were biographies of various people who had played a significant role in early aviation.






Pride of place was the 1909 plane which the Wright Brothers had constructed for, and sold to, the US Military – the first ever aeroplane for military use. Even the fabric was authentic and original.

 

[Human]

The penultimate exhibition was “We All Fly”, which is devoted to civilian and non-commercial aviation in all its forms. This famous ultralight saved an endangered species of geese by teaching them were to fly for their migration!



A couple of other planes in the display: