January 28, 2017

Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas

“Houston, we have a problem” = message the crew of Apollo 13 relayed to Houston Control when it malfunctioned. “Houston, we have a problem” was the message to AAA when our battery went dead in Lafayette, LA. Apollo 13 and Lou and Bonnie were rescued from disaster. We did make it to the Johnson Space Center. Once inside its gates, we were amazed that the place looked like a college campus—deserted on a Sunday—but still it had squat buildings where you knew brains were working hard within—but maybe not on a Sunday. Saturn V rockets—17 of them (and maybe more) took off during our lifetime with human payload aboard. Other than Neil Armstrong walking on the moon during Apollo 11, those take-offs became everyday occurrences in our lives. Little did we novices know how amazing was the technology—we took them for granted. Every one of them was valuable, as is the international space station, because experiments there and here were and are preparing for the 6-month eventual, manned trip to Mars; its mission is called Orion. That WILL be as amazing as landing on the moon.

Houston-110

Saturn V rocket stage 1 (out of 3) thrusters. Houston-111

Saturn V rocket ... 342 feet long.

Houston-112 Houston-113 Houston-114