Houston: Space City

When you turn your head from the stars and look around at Houston, you’ll still find plenty of areas for your family to explore. Whether alien or human, these are some of the Earthling sites you won’t want to miss the next time you’re in the neighborhood.

• The Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens: More than your average slice of Americana, this 28-room mansion belonged to the unfortunately-named Ima Hogg before she donated it to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in 1957. Included with that donation were Miss Hogg’s beautiful collections of both Native American works and pieces by foreign artists. Visitors will love experiencing the home of a true Texas original. (more…)

Even the heartiest space fanatic needs to sit down for a meal once in a while. Houston offers plenty of options on that front, ranging from traditional barbecue to Asian delicacies. This list features just a few of the Houston restaurants with intergalactic taste.

• Mark’s American Cuisine: This historic restaurant is located in a renovated church from the 1920s. However, the atmosphere is only one of the reasons it was voted Houston’s Most Romantic Restaurant. Wine director Saree Mulhelm ensures that there is always the perfect flavor to go along with Head Chef Mark Cox’s specialties, including Copper River Salmon and Kobe Beef Osso Bucco. (more…)

Houston is the 4^th largest city in the United States, only rivaled by Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. But despite its big city feel, Houston also manages to maintain a friendly neighborhood feel, with a cost of living 9.6 below the national average. In contrast, New York’s is 52.8 above the average. How does the city manage it? Mainly, it’s due to a combination of bargain housing and lower taxes.Houston is also an area full of peaceful diversity, with an only 42 Anglo population, followed by 33 Hispanic, 18 African-American, and 7 Asian or other. Amazingly, 94 of students in the independent school district speak Spanish. This allows a great deal of interplay between cultures, and ensures that Houston students have a leg up on the competition when it comes to working in a global economy. (more…)

Houston’s connection with space travel dates back to 1963 when NASA opened the Manned Spacecraft Center. In 1973, the station was renamed to its modern moniker, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, in honor of one of the state’s most illustrious natives. From there, things, have only gone upliterally.Starting with the launch of Gemini IV (manned by James McDivitt and Edward White) in 1965, the Houston Center has served as the operational site for every manned mission. This includes the entire process of the mission, starting with astronaut training in facilities like the Sonny Carter Training Facility and Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. The NBL contains full-sized training sets including the space shuttle bay and the International Space Station located underwater. Astronauts take a deep breath, don their suits and add weights to counteract buoyancy, allowing them to experience a zero-gravity environment. (more…)

In June, workers at the Johnson Space Center were preparing to seek employment assistance. The reason: a proposed retirement of NASA’s shuttles and the cancellation of the moon program. 7,000 jobs were on the chopping block. Even more disturbing than the setback this would represent for America’s space program was the obstacles it would create for thousands of newly unemployed workers. However, the majority of the losses could soon be avoided thanks to a new budget bill passed by a Senate Committee on Thursday, July 15. The bill calls for a 19 billion budget which brings the number of losses down to a projected 15 of the original 7,000somewhere around 1,050. (more…)