and Dad have definitely brought the good weather with them - another blue sky day. I went for a run (the first one since Sunday!) while everyone got going. We decided to go to NASA for the day. NASA is down in Clear Lake about 50 miles south east of us. So we went down that way late morning, to have lunch and then go for all the tours at the space centre. Stuart used the sat nav to guide the way which resulted us in getting to know a small part of I-45 very well as the first lunch place had changed names when we got there so we went for our second choice - La Madeline. It is a 'french
style' place that does soup, sandwiches and salads. It was quite good and filled a space, (boom boom!) Following lunch we introduced Dad to the wonders of chewing gum. None of us thought it would stick to his dentures - but it did and not half!! (the only solution was to put them in the freezer when we go home).
style' place that does soup, sandwiches and salads. It was quite good and filled a space, (boom boom!) Following lunch we introduced Dad to the wonders of chewing gum. None of us thought it would stick to his dentures - but it did and not half!! (the only solution was to put them in the freezer when we go home). NASA was fun, the first thing we did was go on the tram ride which took you out to all the different building where things happen. Most of the buildings from the outside looked like nothing, just concrete with no windows. Our first stop was mission control. They said if anyone is not fit enough to walk the stairs to take the lift. I accompanied Mum in the lift, and when we reached the third floor - we got to laugh at the rest of the group
that were huffing and puffing as they reached the top. Poor Stuart and Dad finally arrived at the top and said we had done the sensible option! We sat in those comfy chairs on the other side of the glass from mission control, like you see in the movies. We were looking on to the 1960's centre and on the two TV screens we could see the more modern one and the international control centre. The guy told us that when they sent up the Apollo missions they had mainframe computers that only had 1mb of disk space. He used the example that it was like uploading one digital photo on the way into space and one on the way back. Pretty amazing! We then went off, on the cold windy tram (there was a sea breeze), to see the mock up centre. In there, there was all the modules that the astronauts train in including the shuttle and moon buggie
s. Our final stop was at Saturn 5, and it was huge - just look at the size of the engines (there are five of these things at the bottom of the rocket). It is incredible to think how much of the rocket doesn't make it up to the moon, as most of it is discarded before it gets out of the earths atmosphere.
that were huffing and puffing as they reached the top. Poor Stuart and Dad finally arrived at the top and said we had done the sensible option! We sat in those comfy chairs on the other side of the glass from mission control, like you see in the movies. We were looking on to the 1960's centre and on the two TV screens we could see the more modern one and the international control centre. The guy told us that when they sent up the Apollo missions they had mainframe computers that only had 1mb of disk space. He used the example that it was like uploading one digital photo on the way into space and one on the way back. Pretty amazing! We then went off, on the cold windy tram (there was a sea breeze), to see the mock up centre. In there, there was all the modules that the astronauts train in including the shuttle and moon buggie
s. Our final stop was at Saturn 5, and it was huge - just look at the size of the engines (there are five of these things at the bottom of the rocket). It is incredible to think how much of the rocket doesn't make it up to the moon, as most of it is discarded before it gets out of the earths atmosphere.While Stuart went off the crash a couple of shuttles (dont panic only in the simulator) - apparently landing is harder than it looks, Mum, Dad and I went to watch a movie with real footage of the different missions in space, followed, more importantly by, the moon rocks! I could never cope in space, I would be continually banging myself on all the metal surfaces, not to mention it looks so claustrophobic! All of us touch 3.8 billion year old moon rock (we really wouldn't know if it actually came from the moon!) but they also had some specimens behind glass and it looked just like you would see on earth - pretty cool. We also had fun looking at ourselves in
the mirror to show you what the gravity would do to you on other planets - I liked Mars as it made me tall and thin, Jupiter made us look short and fat!! Stuart and I tried on the astronaut helmets - they are not very comfortable :)
the mirror to show you what the gravity would do to you on other planets - I liked Mars as it made me tall and thin, Jupiter made us look short and fat!! Stuart and I tried on the astronaut helmets - they are not very comfortable :)Tonight Dad treated us to a nice seafood dinner at Denis. It had extremely good ratings on B4Ueat. I still have half of mine left in the fridge (my doggie bag).
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