The Big Loop, Day 20: NASA (26 images)

ONE GIANT LEAP.

If you are in Houston,  you MUST visit NASA, right? RIGHT!!

I just spent all afternoon at the Johnson Space Center on my first full day in the Houston area. It allowed me to revisit the early days of the space program (that coincided with MY early days. Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, etc. It's stunning successes. It's devastating tragedies.

I was able to watch an Apollo 11 video while looking in to a reconstructed Apollo Mission Control... from the very seats that used to be reserved for astronaut families and other VIPs! I was able to re-live America's greatest achievement and maybe mankind's pinnacle-to-date.

It also very effectively illustrated where we are going - which is back to the moon. Then eventually on to Mars. I learned more about how the program has evolved and matured. And about how mind-numbingly complicated visits to Mars will be!

Maybe best though was it transported me emotionally to my childhood. I was able to experience my inner-child's excitement about space all over again.

NASA can be for intellectual, high-achieving scientists I guess. But it can also be for big ol' kids like me! And you. You should definitely go to NASA. Or the moon. Or Mars. Why not?