NASA's Johnson Space Center

Even seasoned travelers associate Texas with cowboys and rodeos. However, it is difficult to meet a guy with a lasso in hand in the cities of Texas. You will have to go for them to distant prairies. What is really worth looking for in Texas, in its city of Houston, is NASA's Lyndon Johnson Space Center.

This is a real space city, located on an area of ​​more than 650 hectares. Every day, hundreds of specialists study space, develop new models of manned spacecraft, train astronauts, launch rockets, and control flights. It was from there that the first team of NASA astronauts on the Mercury space program made their flight in 1961. And in 1992 the research complex was opened to visitors.

Today, the space complex has two centers, historical and modern, where ships are operated today. The historical part of the space center is known for the movie Apollo 13 and its famous phrase “Houston, we have a problem!”. It is a huge museum. There are lunar rovers, the original stage of the launch vehicle, as well as many personal diaries and spacesuits of astronauts. One of the most popular exhibits is a piece of moonstone. Every visitor wants to touch it.

The centerpiece of the museum is a real shuttle that flew into space. You can inspect the astronaut’s cockpit, touch the dashboard, and look into the crew compartment of the ship.

After visiting the historical part of the center, you should go to the huge hangar with the world's largest launch vehicle Saturn as well as go to the mission control center. If you still lack emotion after this, you can always try to land the space shuttle yourself in the simulator.