NASA tour

While my family was still here in Houston, my sister was able to take us on a tour of her building. It was really fun, especially since she works in one of the coolest buildings at JSC (Johnson Space Center).

Here is our family on the floor of the "high bay". This building has full scale mock-ups of the shuttle and station for the astronauts to train in. If you take the tour of JSC, you get to see this building from a cat walk up above...Ashley was able to get us on the floor, up close and personal!


This is a full size shuttle mock up. The mock ups have consoles and work stations just like those on the real thing, so when astronauts practice at a particular task, they are seeing things just like they would on the real shuttle or space station.


Ashley and the infamous red button...

Ashley called us on her first day of working in the high bay with a great story about this button. She was given one job--to hold that button and NOT hit it. I know you are wondering...what happens when you hit such an ominous button?!? Well, fortunately for all of us, my sister DID hit the button, thus we all get to find out. :) Turns out it stops the whole system, the director upstairs has to reboot the whole system and all the people working on the training (astronauts, engineers...everyone) has to wait 10-15 minutes while everything is reset. What a great first day, huh?!?

Ashley looking very official telling us about what she does.


Dad at the controls! This is the station that Ashley's group uses for training.


Dad and Alyssa in front of Chariot, the new moon rover.