Day Two @ NASA

Today was spent reviewing the history of the space program. It was quite interesting to hear how the Russians really took the lead. Did you know that 50% of the German scientists after World War 2 were taken to Russia to work on their race to space. Where did the other 50% go? To the United States. The Germans were world class leaders in rocket technology, they spent a lot of time under Hitler developing the rocket engine. He wanted to use then for bombing the Allies in WW2.

In the afternoon we visited the Astronauts Hall of Fame. What a lot of great history! Each of the space flights was recorded and memorabilia was on display. I was amazed at the damage gravity would do to the heat shields on the bottoms of the space capsule. It was amazing how small of a space these guys have to live in. For early astronauts thay had a seat to live in and that was basically it. It's a good thing their flights we from 15 minutes to a couple of days. Eventually thay had more room.

Most of the astronauts were pilots. On display were a bunch of their helmets, each of them decorated with a symbols of their flights. I also had a chance to try on a helmet. It wasn't all reading, there was some great interactive things to do. I actually went into a flight simulator flying an F-16 ... way cool! I also was able ride in an animated Mars lunar rover.

Tomorrow we visit the actual Space Center. Stay tuned!