Space History near you!

[Geonovast]

I recently learned that Edwin Hubble was born about 25 miles from where I'm currently living.

There's a replica model statue thing in front of the Marshfield, MO courthouse.  I'm in Marshfield once in awhile for work, so next time I'm over there I'll have to check it out.

 

Is there any bit of space history near you?

[razark]

5 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Is there any bit of space history near you?

Heh.

There may be a little bit in my area.

[TheSaint]

We've been to visit the Lowell Observatory up in Flagstaff a couple of times, saw the telescope Tombaugh used to discover Pluto.

[Bill Phil]

You could say that...

I can see an upright Saturn V almost every day now.

[razark]

5 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

I can see an upright Saturn V almost every day now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3dZl3yfGpc

 

[Bill Phil]

6 minutes ago, razark said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3dZl3yfGpc

 

Still pretty imposing, all the same. 

[razark]

Just now, Bill Phil said:

Still pretty imposing, all the same. 

I saw it in March.  I've spent most of my life around the JSC Saturn V, as far back as my memory goes.

Seeing one standing vertical was damn impressive.

[IncongruousGoat]

George M. Low (who was the Acting Administrator of NASA in 1970 and 1971, among many other things) served as president of RPI, where I'm currently studying, after retiring from NASA. Got the highest (not tallest, highest) building in Troy, NY named after him, plus a fancy gallery in said building detailing all the stuff he did for the space program.

Other than that, though, there isn't much. Upstate NY isn't exactly known for its rich, storied history with the space program. Or for anything else, for that matter.

[LordFerret]

Heh heh heh... how about the Space Farms Zoo and Museum in NJ? It was founded (1927) even before there was a NASA. Does that count?
https://www.spacefarms.com/visit
 

Then again, we've got the Joint Base Maguire-Dix-Lakehurst... home of the Hindenburg crash.

Also, the American Rocket Society fired its first rocket near Stockton NJ in 1932.

[qzgy]

Can confirm the Joint Base. Has a pretty neat airshow once in a while.

If you don't mind the drive, I guess you can say that the Goddard flight center is "in the area"

Oh theres also the Holmdel Horn Antenna that (for me at least) is a bit of a drive east at the Bell Telephone Labs. Apparently it was used to first detect the Cosmic microwave background. So thats kinda neat.

[NSEP]

I live near places were the V-2 was launched in WW2 to bomb Britian.

[Green Baron]

I live right below part of the European Northern Observatory.

Telescopes here produce quite a lot of papers, either alone or in combination with others.

[Canopus]

I live an our away from ESOC and two hours away i can see a flight test unit of the Buran. 

Edited October 9, 2018 by Canopus

[RealKerbal3x]

I live a short train-ride away from the British Interplanetary Society, who I believe were the first to conduct a design study on a lunar lander (in the 1930s). Parts of its design influenced Grumman's LEM, in fact.

Alternate history! Imagine if the UK landed on the moon first.

Edited October 9, 2018 by RealKerbal3x

[YNM]

3 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Alternate history! Imagine if the UK landed on the moon first.

"This is mine..."

 

_________

I don't think we have anything on space exploration, but we definitely has some on astronomy.

Completed in 1928, used for the study of double stars (astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic).

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

I got to take a tour of a nearby machine shop (Next Intent, their motto is "We Build Really Cool Stuff!") that built the Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit and Opportunity) wheels, some parts for Curiosity, along with a bunch of other space hardware. I got to hold one of the wheels, and see the partly machined chassis for the 2020 rover.

[Barzon]

The uni my sister attends, has a team of English and French scientists that analyse Curisosity's findings.

https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/media-centre/online-features/2013/leicester2019s-part-in-mission-to-mars

Not technically space history, but it's history in the making.

[Geonovast]

19 hours ago, razark said:

Heh.

There may be a little bit in my area.

Cheater.

17 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Still pretty imposing, all the same. 

That would be awesome to see.  But at this point, I would kill to be able to see one of the shuttles, if I can people long enough to do so.

11 hours ago, Canopus said:

I live an our away from ESOC and two hours away i can see a flight test unit of the Buran. 

They actually let people in to see them?  I was under the impression they were all locked down.

 

2 minutes ago, Barzon Kerman said:

Not technically space history, but it's history in the making.

I think that counts!

[Green Baron]

21 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

They actually let people in to see them?  I was under the impression they were all locked down.

It is a museum for technology.

With many other things from transportation and technology, absolutely worth a visit. And just an hour or so away is another well sorted museum of technology, with a Concorde and a TU144.

But i am not telling more in order not to spoil @Canopus' post. Hope i didn't tell too much ;-)

Edited October 9, 2018 by Green Baron

[Geonovast]

@Green Baron oh, spoil away!  The chances of me ever visiting Europe are slim to none.  Aside from the cost, I don't travel well, I panic in large crowds, and I refuse to fly.  Just the thought of going to Los Angeles to see the Endeavour at the California Science Center is a bit panicky for me. 

[razark]

33 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Cheater.

You want cheating?  My work address is 2101 E NASA Road 1*.

 

^*I don't care if they officially changed it to NASA Parkway.  It'll always be NASA Road 1 to me.

[YNM]

18 hours ago, razark said:

NASA Parkway

'Gator Parkway ?

[Barzon]

@Geonovast I, similarly to you, get very stressed when in small crowds, but if you do ever visit the UK, when I went to the National Space Centre, it wasn't very crowded, except at the Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium. The National Space Centre also has a Blue Streak and Thor Able. It also was home to the control centre for the failed Beagle 2 mars lander.

[razark]

@Geonovast, I'm also not a big fan of crowds.

About a year ago, I visited the National Museum of the USAF.  It's well worth a trip, with a decent amount of space history^*, and if you're into aviation history, even better.  There were a fair number of people there, but it's large enough that it wasn't ever really crowded.  It's worth it to see stuff like the only surviving XB-70, an X-15, an Apollo capsule, and more.  If you're only going for space stuff, a day will be enough.  We spent two, and it still wasn't enough time to give everything the attention it deserved.

And if you get to Seattle, look up the Museum of Flight.  They had a lot of Apollo 12 stuff, including Pete Conrad's propeller beanie.  (Although, I didn't see the one plane I had really hoped to see.)

 

^*A lot of early stuff was joint NASA/Air Force operations, and there were a few Air Force astronauts.  And on the military side, ballistic missiles and early space launch vehicles are really only separated by payload and guidance systems, so there's a nice bit of overlap.

Edited October 11, 2018 by razark

[Mjp1050]

For the Star Trek fans in the audience, during my high school years I worked here:

 

Not ringing any bells? How about this:

Spoiler

 

(I know, not technically part of space history, but I find it neat that part of my hometown was featured in a Star Trek movie. Shush. )