I knew about the Solar Eclipse wayyyy before I moved here to Texas but it was when we were making the actual plans to actually move that I looked it up and found the house would be in the path of totality. For fun I sent invites to an Eclipse party, on April 9, 2024, to about a dozen friends and family. Only my sister made plans to come and she made arrangements for us to visit the Johnson Space Center and get a private tour from a former student of her WHO happens to also be a Flight Director!!! Note - The Johnson Space Center is not the Space Center Houston which is open to the public. The Johnson Space Center is where the day to day operations are for all manned missions; planning, training, and on going.
During the tour we saw mission control for the ISS and was able to walk around the control floor area where the various stations were explained; what all the plaques and stickers were and their significances; how the giant monitors are used; how the personnel shifts work for continuous interaction with the ISS crew also happens. Then we went into the Artimus control room. Along the way we also were given stickers and patches for the current ISS expedition number 71 plus a sticker, designed by the Flight Director, for that Mission Command shift. Next we walked above the training floor which has all the current ISS modules along with space suits, Soyus capsule, future modules and Artemis capsules.
Afterwards we went to the outdoor exhibit of the various recovered capsules and Saturn V rocket stages. THAT SUCKER IS HUGE!!
When we go home we spent the days wandering around the area and evenings watching: a PBS NOVA episode on the Eclipse and what various projects hope to find out; and space movies - The Martian, Mission to Mars, and A Million Miles Away.
Monday was the Eclipse so we went to the library which had some activities and the New Braunfels Astronomy club with their telescopes (with solar filters) so we could watch the sun and eclipse. We made our own viewing party T-Shirts and waited for it to start. Well we saw the start but the clouds moved in and never saw totality - which was a BUMMA :-(( though I thought talking to everyone who was there was enjoyable.
Tuesday my sister went home and I cleaned up the house.
Note: the pictures are NOT in any order.
During the tour we saw mission control for the ISS and was able to walk around the control floor area where the various stations were explained; what all the plaques and stickers were and their significances; how the giant monitors are used; how the personnel shifts work for continuous interaction with the ISS crew also happens. Then we went into the Artimus control room. Along the way we also were given stickers and patches for the current ISS expedition number 71 plus a sticker, designed by the Flight Director, for that Mission Command shift. Next we walked above the training floor which has all the current ISS modules along with space suits, Soyus capsule, future modules and Artemis capsules.
Afterwards we went to the outdoor exhibit of the various recovered capsules and Saturn V rocket stages. THAT SUCKER IS HUGE!!
When we go home we spent the days wandering around the area and evenings watching: a PBS NOVA episode on the Eclipse and what various projects hope to find out; and space movies - The Martian, Mission to Mars, and A Million Miles Away.
Monday was the Eclipse so we went to the library which had some activities and the New Braunfels Astronomy club with their telescopes (with solar filters) so we could watch the sun and eclipse. We made our own viewing party T-Shirts and waited for it to start. Well we saw the start but the clouds moved in and never saw totality - which was a BUMMA :-(( though I thought talking to everyone who was there was enjoyable.
Tuesday my sister went home and I cleaned up the house.
Note: the pictures are NOT in any order.
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