Visiting Space Center Houston
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) maintains two visitor centers: Space Center Houston in Houston, Texas and Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. When we visited Houston, we took a short trip to Space Center Houston, which gave us an up close and personal tour of space exploration history. We loved it!
During our visit to the center, we took one of the tram tours, explored the Zero G Diner, saw several films, and visited the amazing gift shop. Overall, we left with a great experience having visited this massive science museum.
Location
Space Center Houston
2101 E NASA Pkwy, Houston, TX 77058
281-483-0123
Space Center Houston is located between Houston, TX and Galveston, TX off of I-45. It’s about 30 minutes southeast of downtown Houston, making it the perfect day trip activity. For those visiting the Galveston area, it’s a short 35 minute drive northwest of Galveston by car. Visitors to the space center can combine the experience with a big city trip or a beach trip (or both!).
Ticket Prices
Daily admission at the time of publication of this post was as follows (most up-to-date information can be found here):
Child (ages 3 and younger) – Free
Kid (ages 4-11) – $24.95
Adults (ages 12 and older) – $29.95
Senior (ages 65 and older) – $27.95
For anyone planning to visit two days or more, the individual or dual annual pass is the best bet. Membership also includes some nice perks like free parking and priority boarding for the NASA Tram Tour (which can have long wait times).
Individual Membership – $55
Dual Membership – $90
Family – $130
Parking was $5.00 and the toll booth accepted cash or credit cards.
Space Center Houston Exhibits and Tram Tours
There are two main visitor experiences at the Space Center Houston: the central visitor center and the tram tour. The main visitor center houses a variety of hands-on, interactive exhibits showcasing the history of space exploration and these are what you’d expect to find in any typical museum experience. Two that stood out to us were Astronaut Gallery, an area showcasing an extensive collection of old space suits, and Mission Mars, an interactive exhibit showing what it takes to travel to Mars and also how humans may be able to live there one day. The exhibits were well done and seemed to appeal to people of all ages.
The second part of the visitor experience, and our favorite part, is the NASA Tram Tour which takes visitors on a 90-minute tour to different places on the grounds. The tram tour is included in your admission to the center. Since this is a working government facility, the tours may be rerouted on occasion. It was pretty neat to see people at work while we were on the tour. Two tram tour tips:
- We definitely recommend getting in line early since it seems to get longer as the day goes on. We waited about 45 minutes and this was boring but totally worth it in the long run. The tram tour is worth the wait. If in doubt, just pick the tour with the shorter line.
- Make sure to use the restroom before boarding the tram. Restroom options along the way were very limited.
On our visit, there were two options: a red tour and a blue tour. The blue tour took visitors to Mission Control and the red tour took visitors through the astronaut training process. Both tram tours visit Rocket Park, where one of the remaining Saturn V rockets is displayed. Given our time constraints, we were only able to pick one, so we went with the blue tour.
On the blue tram tour, we visited the Christopher C. Kraft Mission Control area and we also had the opportunity to see the historic Mission Operations Control Room, the facility where NASA monitored a number of Gemini and Apollo lunar missions, including the historic Apollo 11 first manned mission to land on the moon. If you’ve ever heard “Houston, we’ve had a problem” from the Apollo 13 mission, this is the control area where it was first received. Just being in this area was pretty inspiring, especially thinking about how the first moon landing was such a special moment in history.
Saturn V Center
The Saturn V rocket is considered the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever used and the best part is that Space Center Houston visitors are able to see it in person in all its huge glory. At 363 feet tall, it really is breathtaking to stand next to in real life. When fully fueled, the rocket weighed as much as 6.2 million pounds! Between 1967 and 1973, the Saturn V took 27 astronauts into space and had six successful missions landing people on the moon.
Independence Plaza
Independence Plaza is not to be missed, and it would actually be pretty hard to miss given its location – you’ll see this thing as soon as you turn into the parking lot. At this attraction, visitors can walk inside and explore the world’s only shuttle replica (Independence) mounted on the original shuttle carrier aircraft (NASA 905).
The first part of the experience is to ride the elevator to the top of Independence Plaza to explore the shuttle replica Independence.
We were able to see the tight quarters where astronauts live which was pretty incredible. Inside the shuttle replica Independence payload bay, we saw the cradle that carried a booster motor for STS-49’s mission.
After we saw the shuttle replica, we went inside the huge shuttle carrier aircraft NASA 905. Talk about a unique experience. The only thing better would be seeing this fly overhead! Inside there were informative exhibits and interactive displays. The center provided information about the engineers faced with the dilemma of transporting the space shuttle orbiters.
Films and Presentations
Once our tram tour was over, we headed back to the main visitor center and went to check out the five story tall screen theater. We saw a presentation about current NASA mission updates, including experiments that are currently being conducted about space exploration. We also stuck around for a film about the International Space Station. We learned about the astronauts currently on the International Space Station, how they communicate back to Earth, and how they go about their day-to-day business living in space.
Gift Shop
The visitor center includes an extensive gift shop full of everything space-related you could ever want and then some. There were books, patches, clothes, lots of learning toys for kids, and even a bunch of different freeze-dried “astronaut food” options. Who could resist trying the ice cream?
Summary
Space Center Houston offers a wonderful glimpse into NASA and US space exploration history. Whether you love everything about space or you’re simply interested in learning about history, Space Center Houston is a magical place that will inspire wonder at any age and leave you starstruck.
