Testing the New DxO ONE 20.2 MP Digital Camera For iPhone and iPad at The California Science Center-San Francisco
I ran across the DxO ONE 20.2 MP Digital Camera…
NASA | Ames Research Center | Visitor Center–Location of The First Mercury Capsule!
July 27, 2015
This is the closest NASA center I have to me and I finally made it there last weekend! Ames has been conducting world class research since 1939 and is located in the heart of Silicon Valley. For a list of their current missions click here. The Visitor Center is located on the right just as you enter the center. The parking is free and so is the admission, which makes it a great place for children’s field trips! Also, If you have Handicapped people or Senior Citizens, the parking is very close to the center with easy access to the entrance.
The staff were very friendly and helpful right upon entry. They were very happy to answer all of my questions about the items in the center!
I liked this mini set up they had of the International Space Station (the closest I will ever get to the ISS).
It had astronaut exercise equipment, astronaut food and other examples of research cubicles.
It was really cool to be up-close to the actual experimental equipment used in the 60’s (my favorite NASA era).
There’s a cute photo-op (see on the right of the picture below) where you can get your “astronaut” pictures taken.
Now here it is! This is what made the trip all the worthwhile to me! The first un-manned Mercury Mission capsule! What an amazing piece of history!! This was actually on display at the Smithsonian and recently shipped to Ames.
It would have been amazing to see one of the manned mission capsules but I can’t complain! This made me very happy!
So here’s the deal with the “space suits.” These were never used in space, never used at all for that matter because they are only replica’s–from an educational standpoint these would be great to see. Mercury is on the left and Gemini on the right. Kinda crazy to think of a man launching into space in these suits compared to what they have now!
(Please excuse the reflection of my feet..haha)
There was a nice set up of one of AMES current mission–Kepler. The closet thing to an “Earth twin” that’s been discovered.
And here we are, the second thing at Ames that made me very happy! An actual Moon Rock retrieved from Apollo 15! This rock had it’s own room and to be honest is really much smaller than these photos show. It was only about 2 inches tall but still just amazingly thrilling to see in person!
The Shuttle cabin simulator was down while we were there unfortunately.
Here’s a couple of photo’s from the gift shop. I could have bought everything! They had posters, pins, mugs, backpacks, T-shirts and so much more. A lot of these items would make great stocking stuffers. I bought the mug as I’m a coffee addict!
They had the cutest baby section! I don’t have any kids but the selection was making me wish I did! So cute!
My Quick Take: This is a great family friendly environment. You can’t beat the free admission, easy parking and friendly Staff! Seeing the Mercury Mission Capsule was an unexpected but amazing surprise!
The website says to plan to be there for about an hour but I was there for 2 and half hours.
For Directions click here.
Hours: Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday – Sunday noon – 4 p.m. They closed Mondays and federal holidays.
Phone Numbers: Visitor Center: (650) 604-6497 Gift Shop: (650) 604-5412
Don’t get your hopes up to see the Vertical Motion Simulator or the Wind Tunnels as they are only available to the public during “open houses”. They had their first one in 17 years last fall.
Let me know in the comments if you know when the next Open House is going to be! –And if you haven’t seen my post on ABC’s Astronaut Wives Club yet click here–Hollywood got this one so wrong.
Happy Exploring!
Xx,
Goldie+James
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