Anniversary Trip: Space & Rocket Center

After a long 11 hour drive on day 1, we visited the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. Along with being a cool museum and having rocket park (seriously, SO many rockets), it is also the home of Space Camp! They had just started the first session and made me wish I had gone when I was little, but we still had a great time exploring the museum, seeing a Saturn V and other rockets, the Apollo 16 capsule, and an A-12 (almost identical to the SR-71) Blackbird! But enough talking, here are some pictures!

A-12 Blackbird that was used as a NASA research plane

Hello big Saturn V (replica)

The museum had a special exhibit on Dr. Wernher von Braun and this was a  book he received signed by Apollo 11 astronauts

Rocket Park had a lot of rockets

And other military vehicles

The Saturn V

More Saturn V....

The top of the Saturn V

Apollo 16 capsule... this went to the moon, no biggie

They really didn't have a lot of room

Complicated door

Inside Apollo 12's quarantine facility

Space Shuttle Pathfinder- a test simulator

Piece of Skylab

Yay!

We had a really good time and wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to make it to Gatlinburg that day 5 hours away. If you ever get a chance to visit the Space & Rocket Center I highly recommend it, particularly if you are space-inclined. We didn't get to see everything and we were there for 4 hours or so, so it definitely warrants an all-day visit!