February 20, 2015
Had an amazing trip to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Astronauts affectionately call it ‘Houston’ during missions, and all American missions in space are directed through this very center.
Our tour guide on the Level 9 tour (a tour centered around showing 12 people the behind-the-scenes details) was a former Lunar Module Technician by the name of David Cisco. Cisco had a hand in almost ever flown Lunar Module, including Apollo 11’s historic landing on the Moon.
On this amazing tour, we got to see the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in the Sonny Carter Training Facility. Sonny Carter was an astronaut that flew on STS-33, later killing during a commercial airline crash. During our tour of the NBL, astronaut-candidates from Group 21 (2013) were training for potential missions to the International Space Station. It was an awesome experience to see actual astronauts training for actual missions.
We got to see the current and historical Mission Control Center. In the current center, we got to see ISS operations in action, which mostly amounted to staring at engineers staring at computer screens. But in the viewing room, Flight Director Greg Whitney took time out of his off day to speak with us, answering questions about specific console positions and certain ISS contingencies, from ‘dodging’ space debris to this weeks planned EVAs by Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts of Expedition 41/42.
The tour took us to the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, where astronauts from all nations train on systems on the International Space Station and systems that may possibly be used for a future Mars mission or lunar landings, though those events are still a ways away. We got to see a (nearly) full-sized ISS and learned about operations in the SVMF. A full sized Space Shuttle mockup was located here before, but has since been removed since the cancellation of the Space Shuttle Program. Also located in the SVMF was the new universal docking port that is planned for the International Space Station, offering more accesibility from a variety of vehicles, especially the United States’ Commercial Space Transportation program.
Finally, we went to rocket park, where we got to see a Mercury-Redstone and a Apollo Abort test vehicle. The real centerpiece is the Saturn V rocket, exploded to see the intricate details of various stage engines. You can never truly appreciate the scale of a Saturn V until you’re standing behind the first stage engines, five massive powerhouses meant to send human beings to the Moon and return them safely to Earth.
If you have the time, I recommend the Level 9 tour 150%. The tour guides are knowledgeable, and usually come from NASA stock, so they have a more intimate knowledge of America’s space program.
It’s a goal of mine to do this tour one day at JSC. I’ve always wanted to get out to Houston to see it, but lack the funds to do so.
This is where my parents first met back in the 1980s. I came along in the next decade. I still go back every Thanksgiving.
