Space and Rocket centre

A day off from Nuffield visits today and some time to fill before my flight back to Chicago. The US space and rocket centre was just up the road in Huntsville so I decided to have a look around. It was a busy place with lots of school children taking part in space camp learning all about space and astronauts.

 

There were all different rockets on display from small ones to the very large. It was strange visiting a place like this with out my family as I sure they would have really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

The space shuttle that astronauts used to train on was on display, it is amazing how big it is and what a feat of engineering it was to get it into the earths orbit and bring it back to land. Especially when you consider how small a part of a rocket actually makes it back to earth after the launch.

 





Saturn V Rocket

The Saturn V rocket was used for the Apollo missions that eventually lead to man landing on the moon. There is another replica of the Saturn V rocket inside the centre but it is displayed in sections so you can see how it breaks apart during its launch.

 



The capsules that the astronauts were in during the launch were tiny in comparison to the rockets that propelled them into space.

Lunar Module

It was impressive to see a replica of the lunar landing Module. I am not sure what I would have thought if the NASA engineers had showed me the lunar Landing Module and told me that this machine would be able to land on the moon and then launch again to return to the landing capsule.

 

This time my flight to Chicago went without a hitch and my bag followed me all the way to my next hotel in Indiana.