Your Guide to Exploring the Johnson Space Center in Houston

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In summer of 2017, my mom and I were driving across the country from Flagstaff, AZ to my new home, Athens, GA where I would be spending 5 years for graduate school! I had planned the entire road trip around visiting two places, New Orleans and the Houston Space Center. And let me tell you, if you’re visiting the NASA space center in Houston, you’re in for a treat!

There is something so incredible about how we all banded together to send people into space and how we worked to together to help solve problems. So, whether you only have one day in Houston or have lived there your whole life, this guide to the Johnson Space Center is full of all the information you need for an out of this world experience!

What to do at the Space Center in Houston

It can be tricky to navigate the Johnson Space Center because there is just so much to do!

Luckily, your general admission ticket gets you access to the full NASA museum and a tram tour, which takes you to see the famous historic Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR), the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, and Rocket Park.

Let’s go through the highlights so you can decide how to best prioritize this science site.

1. Tram tour

Know before you go that you will need to reserve a Tram Tour boarding pass. This is free, but helps the Center maintain crowd levels.

You can reserve your boarding pass for your whole group by downloading the Space Center Houston app and selecting “Join virtual tram line” then selecting the number of people in your party and a time.

Alternatively, you can visit Guest Services when you arrive to have them book it for you.

Note that you do need to be onsite for both options.

But you definitely want to prioritize the tram tour as there are things you can only see by taking it. Here’s what you’ll experience:

Feel the power of the Mission Operations Control Room

The historic MOCR was awesome! You get to sit in the actual viewing area that the astronauts’ families and special guests sat in (who knows who’s butt had sat in my chair! It could have been someone so monumental!).

From this room, the NASA team monitored nine Gemini missions and all Apollo lunar missions including the famous Apollo 11 trip to the moon. Don’t worry if the missions are new to you, you’ll about them in detail at Rocket Park!

You can truly feel how important this room once was and what amazing things had happened here. Instant goosebumps!

Space Vehicle Mockup Facility

Next on the tram tour, you visit the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility and see where the astronauts prep for their missions. Like hello?! Actual astronauts!

Unfortunately when we were there we couldn’t see any astronauts working, but the technology was incredible! The building houses new rover prototypes, robotics, and other innovations.

And the scale of this place is unreal! Just walking along the window from above you feel small, even more so because all of these things are meant for the vast void of space.

Rocket Park

Home to actual rockets, you’ll see one of the Saturn V rockets on it’s side. I guarantee you will feel like a small ant.

Inside the building, you can read about each of the Apollo missions – the astronauts, their goals, and the role of the Saturn V rocket.

This area such a great place to learn about the specifics away from the museum crowd and it was really neat to turn around and BOOM hello rocket!

2. Learn about NASA and space at the museum

This is one of the most beautifully curated museums I’ve ever been to so don’t skimp out!

In the main lobby, you’ll be surrounded by entrances to different exhibits and theatres. There are over 400 things to do and see!

Starship Gallery

Head to the Starship Gallery to see multiple space craft and artifacts from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission series.

Astronaut Gallery

The astronaut gallery has a TON of historic space suits throughout NASA’s various eras, including the one John Young wore during the first shuttle flight in 1991! There’s also an Apollo 11 suit, Sally Ride’s suit, and even Judy Resnik’s suit from 1978 (she was one of the first ever female astronauts and THE first Jewish one!).

Independence Plaza

Go inside the only shuttle replica at Independence Plaza! You can sit in chairs like astronauts and see just how massive it is from inside. In one of the exhibits here, you can take NASA’s career quiz where it matches you with a potential NASA career. I got matched with an engineer path (not sure if chemist was a choice, but that’s pretty close considering I’m in an interdisciplinary lab!).

Mission Mars

Touch a Mars rock and explore the Mars missions in the exhibit called “Mission Mars”. Very appropriate.

Live Demonstrations like BOOM!

Learn about how rockets are powered by combustion in the demonstration called BOOM (if that name doesn’t sell you I don’t know what will). There are also films shown in theatre exhibits in the museum including The Astronaut Perspective, Touch the Stars about spacecraft over the years, and one on the International Space Station.

International Space Station Gallery

The final exhibit is about the International Space Station with artifacts, history, its mission and purpose, and more!

Artemis Exhibit

You can now visit the new permanent Artemis exhibit to learn about our new Artemis program that will be bringing humans to the moon for the first time in over 50 years! Huzzah!!

How much does it cost to get into Space Center Houston?

The general ticket prices are:

• $30 for adults
• $25 for kids ages 4-11
• free for kids ages 0-3

There are also additional tours that you can pay for including Lunch with an Astronaut for $70 for adults and $36 for children or the Level 9 Tour, a more more in depth tour option, for $180 per person. Note that the Level 9 tour is currently paused.

The final cost is for parking, which is $10 by card via the QR codes scattered on display around the lot.

Note that if you’re in Houston for awhile, you may be able to save with a CityPass.

Where is the Johnson Space Center?

Here’s the address: 1601 Nasa Pkwy, Houston, TX 77058

It’s located on the Southeast end of Houston near the water.

You can get there by traveling South on I-45 from Houston until you get to Exit 24 (NASA 1) where you follow that road until you reach Second Street. Turn left on Second Street and you’ll be there!

Tips for visiting this NASA Space Center

• Do the tram as early as possible to avoid crowds. You can come back to the museum after. Check here for the most updated hours.
• The tram is open to the weather, so make sure you wear appropriate clothing and bring rain gear if necessary.
• There are additional tour options that require more expensive tickets, such as the Level 9 tour and Lunch with an Astronaut tour. If you’re a space junkie, don’t miss out on enhancing your visit with a special tour. (Note the Level 9 Tour is currently paused).
• Give yourself enough time to explore the museum fully and do the tram tour. It takes about 4 hours to go through the Space Center in Houston.
• Yes, it is an active space center so as you go on the tram tour, you may see some activity for upcoming missions!

The space center is a must see for everyone. There is so much to see and learn here! It made me fall in love with science all over again. But, at the time it also made me a little sad at how space exploration has shifted away from sending astronauts to the moon and beyond. I am hopeful that our space program will be revamped and new generations will continue to be excited about astronomy and space exploration!

UPDATE: With the Artemis program we will be on the moon again! I’m so excited and I hope you take the time when visiting Houston to fully explore this space center and learn about why space exploration and discovery is so monumental.

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