Space Museums

Besides the Kennedy Space Center, we stopped at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. It is under the same ticket as the Kennedy complex, but you can do it on a different day. There are bigger displays like a Gemini space module or this suit that was worn by Gus Grissom during his Mercury flight. This was what he wore when the hatch unexpectedly blew after landing in the ocean. There has been a big controversy on who owns this suit, NASA or Grissom’s family. I guess NASA won since the suit is still here.

Smaller displays include this sheet from Apollo 13. The changes and notes were added when the crew were working to get back to Earth after their problems.

I loved the US Space Walk of Fame. This museum was put together by the actual people who worked at the Kennedy Space Center. The memorabilia is stuff these people got by being involved in the work. The pieces might be smaller, but the stories were bigger. For instance, this glove was used in the Mercury program. Energy use was so low in the capsule that they couldn’t light the whole control panel. This glove had small lights in two fingers so the astronaut could see in the unlighted areas. You can see the switch in the middle with two wires running up a seam to the finger tip lights.

This is the countdown procedure for the first American manned flight signed by the Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard.

X-rays of the space boots that Neil Armstrong wore when he first stepped on the moon. The boots are still on the moon but the x-rays still exist here.

These were the panels used up to 2004 to help launch unmanned rockets.

Handprints from my favorite astronaut.

Our tour guide was fabulous. He was a payload specialist working from control panels like these when he worked for the shuttle program.