U.S. Space & Rocket Center

The 2nd reason we stayed in this area was to go to the space museum in Huntsville.  NASA used this space center as one of their bases.  Wernher von Braun, who developed the Saturn V rocket worked here and guided President Kennedy through the center.

This Space Shuttle, called Pathfinder, was used as a test vehicle for the shuttle program.  It's sitting outside the center.

 Part of the museum is dedicated to all the human inventions that have made a real difference in human life.  Wikipedia, invented by Jimmy Wales, is one of those inventions - and he's a Huntsville native.

A whole section is dedicated to the Apollo program, of course, since the Saturn V rocket was developed here, and that's what made the Apollo program.

 This is a Saturn V rocket - in sections - fully contained on its side in this building.

This is the actual space capsule of the Apollo 16 mission.  It's missing bits of the exterior tiles from the atmosphere burn.

And this is the parachute that helped it land safely in the ocean.

Here is a real moon rock and its specs, not a pebble like what was in the Pima Museum.

We also saw an IMAX movie about the journey to space and a bit about the Orion program, which is all about getting a human to Mars.  They're working on it and expect it to happen in the 2030s.

It's a terrific museum and a great facility for education.  There were lots of kids there with their classes, but we expect that's the case pretty much every day.  A nice find in Huntsville, Alabama...who knew?