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pdxleaf
·Following up on my WRUW post about visiting houses of astronauts.
I recently spent a day visiting Space Center Hoston, which has exhibits that range from early rockets thru Artemis and the potential Mars mission.
Highlights for me were the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules, as well as suits. The Artemis exhibit was also informative, although the display label claimed we planned to land on the moon in 2024.
Besides the exhibits, they offer three trams, one to the Saturn V, one to the currently in use astronaut training facility, and one to the original and restored Mission Control room, which is one floor up from the current operating MC room. (See the website for ticket and reservation info.)
The training facility was very interesting, as we could see the Orion mockup where the Artemis II team is training. Mission Control was fascinating as they ran through the Apollo XI landing with visuals from the period. The desks have ash trays full of cigarettes. It was awesome, as I remembered watching it on TV when I was 12 years old.
Back to the astronauts house tour. Johnson Space Center was the first construction in the area. There were no buildings or homes for the workers. So the communities where the astronauts lived were built up from scratch and nearby. As such, many of the astronauts lived near each other, with many next door neighbors. Several families designed and built their own homes, which must have been a wonderful experience for military families accustomed to constantly moving. (I know, as I was an Army brat who move 19 times by the time I graduated from High School.)
These are beautiful neighborhoods of El Lago and Timber Cove, a 10 minute drive from JSC. It was a strange feeling driving the same roads and walking the street in front of Neil Armstrong's house.
The Armstrong's house is right next door to the Ed White's family house. Let that sink in.
Someone had put together a map of the addresses in El Lago and also collected addresses of homes in Timber Cove, which I used to drive around.
The natural question is how intrusive was this. While there, it was very quiet, with few cars. There were a couple joggers and some lawn maintenance people. Only once did I see anyone pull into a house (Brand's) and I withheld the temptation to ask them about living in an astronaut's house. I don't believe it was bothering anyone.
So here are the houses.
*note that Lovell's address is incorrect on the map. The correct address is in the photo, although I wondered if it had been rebuilt or remodeled.
**Haise is a snapshot from Google maps because I photographed the wrong house.
Walking video by Armstrong's house
I recently spent a day visiting Space Center Hoston, which has exhibits that range from early rockets thru Artemis and the potential Mars mission.
Highlights for me were the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules, as well as suits. The Artemis exhibit was also informative, although the display label claimed we planned to land on the moon in 2024.
Besides the exhibits, they offer three trams, one to the Saturn V, one to the currently in use astronaut training facility, and one to the original and restored Mission Control room, which is one floor up from the current operating MC room. (See the website for ticket and reservation info.)
The training facility was very interesting, as we could see the Orion mockup where the Artemis II team is training. Mission Control was fascinating as they ran through the Apollo XI landing with visuals from the period. The desks have ash trays full of cigarettes. It was awesome, as I remembered watching it on TV when I was 12 years old.
Back to the astronauts house tour. Johnson Space Center was the first construction in the area. There were no buildings or homes for the workers. So the communities where the astronauts lived were built up from scratch and nearby. As such, many of the astronauts lived near each other, with many next door neighbors. Several families designed and built their own homes, which must have been a wonderful experience for military families accustomed to constantly moving. (I know, as I was an Army brat who move 19 times by the time I graduated from High School.)
These are beautiful neighborhoods of El Lago and Timber Cove, a 10 minute drive from JSC. It was a strange feeling driving the same roads and walking the street in front of Neil Armstrong's house.
The Armstrong's house is right next door to the Ed White's family house. Let that sink in.
Someone had put together a map of the addresses in El Lago and also collected addresses of homes in Timber Cove, which I used to drive around.
The natural question is how intrusive was this. While there, it was very quiet, with few cars. There were a couple joggers and some lawn maintenance people. Only once did I see anyone pull into a house (Brand's) and I withheld the temptation to ask them about living in an astronaut's house. I don't believe it was bothering anyone.
So here are the houses.
**Haise is a snapshot from Google maps because I photographed the wrong house.
Walking video by Armstrong's house
Edited:
