5 Important Sites in the History of the Space Program
By Space Coast Daily // November 8, 2021
NASA is one of the world’s best-known space programs and has changed how people think about space and the planets beyond ours for over sixty years. So if you’re considering traveling to some of the most interesting centers to get to know them better: these are the ones you should visit!
Kennedy Space Center
Perhaps the most famous NASA center, the Kennedy Space Center, is where Apollo 11, the first people to land on the moon, originated. There’s a lot of history here, with everything from human rights to the science that allowed us to make it to the moon: and learning about all of it can be thrilling.
There’s a large visitor complex on the grounds now that’s open every weekday and offers a glimpse into how we got to the moon and how much further we can go.
Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is NASA’s most prominent location in the world. But, there’s a reason why the line ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’ says this city by name. Although Apollo 13 was this city’s darkest day and a complicated day for most of the country in 1970, Houston has been well known for its hand in NASA for over sixty years.
This is NASA’s center for human spaceflight training, research, and flight control; it’s an awesome destination with a massive museum that everyone should visit, whether they’re driving from apartments in Houston or flying internationally.
Ames Research Center
Nestled in Silicon Valley in California, the Ames Research Center is a major NASA center at the Moffett Federal Airfield. As the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics laboratory, it’s studied and worked to invent and investigate many things that have furthered space exploration.
Although it’s such an important building, it’s free and open to the public, featuring exhibits and displays that show off the missions and achievements that NASA has been able to do. For example, the Kepler Mission to the Milky Way is a large piece of history that only happened because of this location, and it’s a great space to learn more about.
Marshall Space Flight Center
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is the largest civilian rocketry and space propulsion center run by the US Government. As the largest NASA center, this location has been tasked with everything from minute details to developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo program.
Founded over sixty years ago, this building works to solve complex technical programs and inform the public on inspiring and interesting facts about their research.
Goddard Space Flight Center
In May of 1959, the Goddard Space Flight Center was named after the father of modern rocketry. This major NASA research lab is just north of Washington, DC, and is NASA’s first space flight center.
With over 10,000 employees, it’s constantly working to further research and inventions and create more ways for our nation to get back out into space. This is an awesome location to visit for anyone who wants to see the history of NASA and learn more about it.
