Huntsville (population 215,006) is the most populous city in Alabama and is known as "Rocket City" because of its close associations with the U.S. space program. The historic Redstone Rocket Test Site and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center are both located on a large track of land within the Redstone Arsenal just south of Interstate 565. Unfortunately, when we visited the area all of these facilities were closed to the public due to COVID-19. Only the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Museum was open for visitors.
The Saturn V rocket that was used to place astronauts on the moon was designed at the Marshall Center and there are several Saturn rockets displayed at the museum.
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is an Official NASA Visitor Center and a Smithsonian Affiliate. Since 1982 the Center has been home of Space Camp, where kids and adults can stay to learn and experience what is like to be an astronaut. Some of the Space Camp activities are available to museum visitors on a daily basis for an additional fee.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Interactive exhibits in the museum were popular with younger visitors, although some older visitors tried a number of the milder activities. While we were watching, some old man in the Space Shuttle simulator showed the kids how to make a perfect landing. It must have gone to his head because we next saw him spinning around in an outer space simulator.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
For an additional fee, visitors could also take a "spin" on the Multi-Axis Trainer or participate in a Sea TREK underwater walking experience using a specialized diving helmet. We did not try either one of these activities.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Space Camp Mission Control Center and Space Camp facilities looked interesting, but we were not allowed to go in most of the training modules. These areas are only used by Space Camp attendees.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
However, we were allowed to walk through part of the International Space Station (ISS) module that contained a display of astronaut food and a sleeping rack.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Astronaut Food - Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Astronaut Sleeping Rack - Picture by Kolohe |
Outside on display were Space Shuttle fuel tanks, a T-38 Talon trainer, modified Gulfstream II that that was used to train astronauts how to land the Shuttle, Saturn Rockets, LEM, and Skylab exhibit.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Suspended from the ceiling in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration building is a full-size Saturn V rocket divided into its individual components. The Saturn V exhibit is very similar to the Saturn V exhibit at Cape Canaveral. In order to get the entire rocket in one picture, Kolohe used a fisheye lens on her camera. Although the picture is distorted and appears curved, the rocket exhibit was really in a long straight line.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Separation ring used between rocket stages.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Apollo Lunar Module, also known as LEM
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Lunar Roving Vehicle.
Actual recovered Apollo 10 Capsule.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Apollo astronaut spacesuits.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Actual walkway from the launch tower that was used by astronauts to board Apollo spacecrafts.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) was used on three different shuttle missions, so that astronauts could repair faulty communications satellites. By using the MMU, astronauts were able to move about untethered and unattached from their shuttle while working in space.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
A moon rock collected and returned to earth from the Apollo 12 Mission.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
On exhibit was the largest piece of Skylab recovered after it disintegrated on reentry through the Earth's atmosphere on July 11, 1979.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
When we discovered that it was 36 million miles to the next food place, we decided that we had better stop at Mars Grill and have a "Space Burger" before starting our long journey home.
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