Space Center Houston, Space center visitor complex in Houston, United States.
Space Center Houston is a science museum and the official visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Its 23,000-square-metre building holds over 400 space artifacts, including the Mercury 9, Gemini 5 and Apollo 17 capsules and the shuttle replica Independence mounted on the Boeing 747 carrier NASA 905.
The facility opened in 1992 as the official entry point for the Johnson Space Center, which has coordinated crewed spaceflight since the early sixties. Over the years, new buildings and exhibition areas were added, including recreations of historic missions.
The center is run by the nonprofit Manned Space Flight Education Foundation and became a Smithsonian Affiliate museum in 2014. Its Astronaut Gallery displays spacesuits such as Pete Conrad's Apollo 12 moonwalk suit, and the Destiny Theater shows the film Human Destiny.
The center opens daily and offers tram tours through active training facilities and mission control rooms of the space agency. Guests should allow enough time, as each ride takes about 90 minutes and outdoor areas can be in full sun.
Independence Plaza displays an original carrier aircraft with a mounted shuttle replica, together offering eight levels to walk through. Visitors board both vehicles and see cockpits, cargo bays, and living quarters up close.
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