Wondering About NASA

I have been wondering what will become of NASA since a lot of its funding has been cut back. The first time I toured NASA was back in 1980, that was 30 years ago. The last time that I was there was in September of 2002 when my cousin and her husband came for a visit. I really enjoy out-of-state visitors; it gives me a chance to see some of the local things that I probably would not see otherwise. Places like Moody Gardens, a Fort guarding our coast that was last used in WW2, the port of Galveston, etc.

Anyway, the second tour was quite different from the first. The first time you had to check in at the office and give identification and could actually walk around and see different things. In 2002, it was commercialized, you paid to get into a building with exhibits and you could get tickets for a tour. You were much more restricted in the areas that you could walk and the things that you could see.

OK, enough, let us get on with the tour by showing you the building with mock-ups for training the astronauts. I believe the first three are for the space station:

Hanging from the ceiling is a model of the space station:

The next couple are of the shuttle:

Sorry, I don't remember what this was, may be a robotic arm?

Now, let us go outside and get up and personal with the Saturn V. Those engines are huge:

And to get an idea of how large the whole rocket is:

Let us hope that they will continue with advancements like in the past, that have affected each and every one of us. It is probably a good thing that private endeavors are taking up some of the load. Since we have put men on the moon, things have slowed way down.

I will leave you with a picture of the control panal inside the shuttle: