While I was in Huntsville, Alabama for the SCCA RallyCross, I decided to visit the US Space and Rocket Center.  Opened in 1970, just after the second manned mission to the moon, this is sometimes called Earth’s largest space museum.

There’s a bus tour to Marshall Space Flight Center offered from the museum, but it was drizzling rain most of the time I was there, so I decided not to bother with trying to see through bus windows in the rain.  I understand that the bus tour would have gone to the Redstone Test Stand, where Alan Shepherd’s Redstone Rocket was tested before launch, and to the Payload Operations and Integration Center, which is mission control for many experiments.

Oddly, one of the first exhibits in the museum was a display of jewelry “inspired by space.”  It was a bit strange, so I kept going.  And I discovered the rock climbing wall…  As it turns out, the museum is very focused on teaching children about the history of the space program, although I’m not clear on how rock climbing does that.  Many of the displays are very basic, like watching air move over a rocket to show how it flows during reentry.

There were a couple of flight simulators, but they were rather dated.

I did spend some time in this simulator, piloting a jetpack over the surface of a rocky planet, but the graphics were pretty blocky.  It’s a shame really, because 20 years ago this was probably fantastic, but I just can’t see that it would be very fun or impressive for kids today, much less adults.

There was a mock-up of the International Space Station in the museum, which was moderately detailed.

It contained examples of the food eaten by astronauts, some of their work stations, and even a description of how the toilet works.

There were a couple of groups of kids there, and I found out that there was a Space Camp, which introduces kids to astronaut training, as well as an Aviation Challenge, which takes them through the basics of fighter pilot training.

They had a Saturn V rocket on display, it was exactly the same display as the one I saw at Kennedy Space Center, but without the history displays leading up to it.

I did quite like the engine displays they had there, showing the evolution of rocket engines and some of the details of their construction.

There was a mock-up of the lunar landing module there.  There was no explanation for the large watch hanging in the background.  And all of this was created for the museum display, not actually used in the space program.  There was also a mock-up of SkyLab.

The Apollo 16 Command Module was probably the best and most impressive display I saw.  You could look inside the module, and see the burned heat tiles on the base.  The recovery parachute was hanging above it.  This is the stuff I really like to see, that was actually in space, or at least used for the space program, not just a mock-up for the museum.

There were a couple of small displays about the future of the space program, including the Space Launch System (SLS), and the Sierra Nevada Corporation Dream Chaser.

Outside there was a rocket garden, which was nice, and this Space Shuttle, the Pathfinder.  It was a mock-up of steel and wood used to test facilities for handling the vehicles.  So many mock-ups.

I got a bit tired of all the mock-ups, so eventually decided to leave… exit through the gift shop.

Strangely, they had a giant Lego T-Rex in the gift shop.  I’m confused…

But as I left the building, I walked over to a side parking lot, and found a wonderful A-12 Blackbird just sitting there, undergoing some restoration work.  It was one of the more interesting things at the museum.

If you’re in Huntsville and have nothing to do on a rainy morning, the US Space and Rocket Center is probably a mildly amusing place to go.  There were a couple of rides there as well.  But overall I was left with an impression of a place that was quite dated, that might have amused kids a couple of generations ago, but that would probably be rather boring for kids today, and also of rather limited educational value.  If you have the opportunity, go to Kennedy Space Center, it’s so much better… Sorry Huntsville. 🙁