Houston: Space City

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…)