A Trip Through Space History

This morning we drove over to the New Mexico Museum of Space History, which houses an extensive collection of artifacts and exhibits relating to the history of space exploration.  Much of the material is focused on the role that White Sands Missile Test Range, Alamogordo and nearby Holloman Air Force Base played in the U.S. space efforts, but the range of the exhibits is quite impressive and is perhaps the best we have seen in the U.S. covering Russian space efforts as well.

The museum grounds are large, and dominated by a 4-story glass museum building:

The complex includes the following:

- The Museum of Space History, which contains exhibitions ranging from Robert Goddard's early rocket experiments near Roswell to a mock-up of the International Space Station.

- The International Space Hall of Fame, comprising a huge number of memorial plaques commemorating the achievements of men and women who have furthered humanity's exploration of space.

- The outdoor Air & Space Park, which displays larger exhibits, such as the Apollo program's Little Joe II rocket and the rocket sled that "Fastest Man Alive" Dr. John P. Stapp rode to 632 mph.

- The Daisy Track or "rocket sled" that was used to conduct aeromedical and space related tests which were crucial in developing components for NASA's Project Mercury orbital flights and the Project Apollo moon landings.

- An IMAX Theater and Planetarium.

- An Astronaut Memorial Garden bearing tributes to the Apollo 1, Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts who died in service of the exploration of space.

We started at the IMAX theater and watched "Hubble," an impressive Hollywood documentary detailing the history of the Hubble telescope and its maintenance and repair over the years.

Following the movie, we walked through the Air & Space Park.  Among the exhibits was the burned remainder of a V-2 rocket that exploded and burned on the hillside above Alamogordo during the early days of missile tests at White Sands:

Another missile served as an observation post for a cheeky little bird that seemed more interested in his next meal than in the fact that he was being photographed:

One of the original rocket sleds used for testing the effect of G-force on astronauts, the "Sonic Wind No. 1," is on display.  David took an unexpected ride on it:

After the Air & Space Park, we spent nearly an hour and a half wandering through the exhibits on the four floors of the museum itself.  Leaving the museum, we stopped by the Daisy Track exhibit and the Astronaut Memorial Garden, which contains this memorial:

The entire museum complex is fascinating and well worth a visit if you pass through southern New Mexico.