Space Center Houston is a destination to explore the marvels of space and human spaceflight bringing people and space closer together, and this includes individuals with disabilities to fully immerse themselves in the wonders of space.  

As a Certified Autism Center by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), the science center is the first Autism-sensory-friendly museum in Houston which we take great pride in. The achievement serves to be an accessible and inclusive international learning destination center for all.    

“The center offers a sensory-friendly bag available to borrow during the duration of the individual’s visit,” said Rachel Schwartzman, Accessibility and Inclusion Specialist.  

“Items in the bag to assist with the guest experience include noise reduction headphones, fidget items of various textures and a communication card for our non-speaking guests so that they can get the most out of their experience. We also offer a Quiet Room to help guests that might feel overwhelmed and need a sensory break.” 

Upon employment, our essential crew members and volunteers undergo Autism Awareness training to better accommodate guests with autism and other sensory and cognitive disabilities.     

In addition to providing the facilities and resources needed to accommodate our disabled guests, the center hosts multiple year-round sensory-friendly events where guest capacity is limited, and certain levels of audio and visuals are reduced to serve guests with a variety of sensory needs.

To attend our next sensory-friendly event on May 4, 2024, please visit the Sensory Friendly Events page on the Space Center Houston website.    

For a full list of our general accessibility facilities, special events, deaf and hard-of-hearing services, visual and physical accessibility services, service animals policy and education programs please visit, Accessibility Options – Space Center Houston.   

The post An Inclusive Learning Destination Center for All appeared first on Space Center Houston.

What’s up with the name?

Saturn is once again named after the Roman god of generation, wealth, and agriculture, among other things. As is the case with many Roman gods, his mythology was adopted from the Greek myths of Cronus.

His reign in both Greek and Roman mythology was considered a “golden age.” But, after a prophesy that he would be deposed by his sons, Saturn swallowed his children to prevent his destruction. However, his wife hid Jupiter from him, giving him a rock to swallow instead.

When Zeus was grown, he indeed deposed Saturn, freeing his siblings and waging a war that brought down the older Titans.

A less violent bit of trivia about Saturn is his festival fell on the winter solstice. As the god of generations, it was a way to celebrate one year passing into the next. Called “saturnalia,” the festival ran from Dec. 17-23 and featured much merriment and parties.

Saturn is also the root of the day of the week, Saturday.

Who “discovered” it?

Saturn is one of the planets that can be seen and recognized as a planet with the naked eye. Early civilizations like the Babylonians even recorded its movements through the sky.

But it wasn’t until our man Galileo that we got our first telescopic observations in 1610, though they were imperfect. Because Galileo’s telescope wasn’t refined enough, he thought the rings around Saturn were actually two moons on each side.

Has NASA sent any missions there?

Saturn is harder to reach. As the distance grows at the edges of the solar system, the number of exploratory missions has decreased. The two main missions to reach Saturn are below, but both Voyager missions also made flybys of the planet.

Pioneer 11 was the first mission to explore Saturn, slingshotting past Jupiter to get a closer look at the ringed jewel. It passed by Saturn on September 1, 1979, at a distance of 21,000 km from Saturn’s cloud tops.

Cassini-Huygens – The most recent Saturn mission had two parts. The Cassini Orbiter’s mission consists of delivering a probe (called Huygens, provided by ESA) to Titan, and then remaining in orbit around Saturn for detailed studies of the planet and its rings and satellites.

Named for the two prominent astronomers to observe Saturn most closely, Cassini had multiple objectives, including the structure and behavior of the rings, the composition of the different moons, and studying the atmosphere.

This mission lasted nearly 20 years, reaching Saturn on July 1, 2004 and ending its mission on Sept. 15, 2017. The Huygens probe landed on Titan on Dec. 25, 2004 and transmitted data for 90 minutes. It was the first landing on a moon other than our own Earth moon.

Can I see it from here?

The best times to see Saturn are between August and November. Directly to Jupiter’s right is Saturn. Saturn’s only 1/7th as bright as Jupiter, so know your target is a bright but not brilliant “star.”

Are there any pretty pictures of it?

Of course! There are plenty of amazing shots of Saturn.

[envira-gallery id=”52444″]

The post Meet our Solar System: Saturn appeared first on Space Center Houston.

Where is it?

Venus is the second planet of our solar system, sitting an average of 66 million miles from the sun and an average of 25 million miles from Earth.

What’s up with the name?

Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. In Roman mythology, Venus sprung to life from sea foam. She was famously depicted rising from the sea in a clam shell by the famous painter Sandro Botticelli.

The Romans took much of Venusian myth from the Greek Aphrodite. Fitting for a goddess of beauty, the myth inspired many artists over time, including the Venus de Milo, a sculpture dating back to between 150-125 BC and on display at the Louvre in Paris.

Who “discovered” it?

Venus is the brightest planet in the sky, since it’s also the closest. Because of that, human have lived with knowledge of it for as long as our eyes have turned up to the heavens.

The first person to look at Venus in a telescope was that prodigious astronomer Galileo Galilei. He took the first accurate observations of the planet in 1610.

What’s it made of?

Venus is like Earth in its structure. It has an iron core that is approximately 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) in radius. Above that is a mantle made of hot rock slowly churning due to the planet’s interior heat. The surface is a thin crust of rock that bulges and moves as Venus’ mantle shifts and creates volcanoes.

From space, Venus is bright white because it is covered with clouds that reflect and scatter sunlight. At the surface, the rocks are different shades of grey, like rocks on Earth, but the thick atmosphere filters the sunlight so that everything would look orange if you were standing on Venus.

Almost all the surface features of Venus are named for noteworthy Earth women — both mythological and real. A volcanic crater is named for Sacajawea, the Native American woman who guided Lewis and Clark’s exploration. A deep canyon is named for Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt.

Venus’ atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets.

Can we live there?

Probably not. The pressure on Venus’ surface is extraordinary, 90 times that on Earth’s surface. That’s equivalent to the pressure a mile, or 1,600 meters, underwater. For even more perspective, free divers stick to about 20 meters below the surface while nuclear submarines go as deep as 300 meters.

While we do have underwater vehicles capable of maintaining pressure 1,600 meters below the surface, they don’t do it for long, certainly not long enough to set up a permanent habitat.

That means we would have to set up habitations in the atmosphere. Seeing as we don’t currently have zeppelin-style habitats here on Earth, the technology would have to be developed.

How long is a year there? What about a day?

A year on Venus takes around 225 Earth days. Things get weird when we talk about a Venusian day though. It takes Venus 243 Earth days to complete one rotation, and that rotation is opposite of how Earth rotates on its axis.

Does that mean time moves backwards on Venus? Not quite. Not even a little.

Venus is one of just two planets that rotate from east to west. Only Venus and Uranus have this “backwards” rotation.

It completes one rotation in 243 Earth days — the longest day of any planet in our solar system, even longer than a whole year on Venus. But the Sun doesn’t rise and set each “day” on Venus like it does on most other planets.

On Venus, one day-night cycle takes 117 Earth days because Venus rotates in the direction opposite of its orbital revolution around the Sun.

Has NASA sent any missions there?

NASA has sent multiple missions to Venus, but here are the most notable.

Mariner 2

The Mariner 2 mission was not only the first U.S. mission to visit Venus, it was the first U.S. spacecraft to visit another planet period. Mariner 2 launched on Aug. 27, 1962 and made its Venus flyby on Dec. 14, 1962.

In terms of scientific results, Mariner 2 was only a modest success, but it still retains the honor of being the very first successful planetary science mission in history. It also discovered data on the Venusian atmosphere, plumbing its depths and gaining temperature readings of the planet.

Mariner 10

In 1973, NASA sent the Mariner 10 mission to Mercury by way of Venus. This mission was the first to explore two planets on the same mission. It was also the first to use the gravity of one planet to assist its flight path toward another planet, slingshotting around Venus to get to Mercury.

Mariner 10 made its closest flyby of Venus on Feb. 5, 1974, returning images which included the first picture showing the day-night terminator of the planet as a thin bright line. Overall, Mariner 10 returned 4,165 photos of Venus and collected important scientific data during its encounter.

Magellan

In 1989, the Magellan spacecraft launched for Venus, beginning one of the most successful deep space missions. It was the first spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus and made several discoveries about the planet. It was also the first deep space probe to be launched by a space shuttle.

New missions

NASA announced two new missions to Venus recently. DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of Venus’ atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved, as well as determine whether the planet ever had an ocean.

VERITAS will map Venus’ surface to determine the planet’s geologic history and understand why it developed so differently than Earth.

Each is expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe.

Can I see it from here?

Venus is always brilliant, and shining with a steady, silvery light. In 2021, it appears in the evening in the western sky at dusk from May 24 to Dec. 31. At different times of the year, Venus is also visible in the morning hours.

You can see Earth’s closest neighbor with just a pair of binoculars. Through binoculars, Venus shows phases in the same way that the Moon does. It can be round the other side of the Sun, when it has a small apparent size and shows a full disc, like the full moon.

Are there any pretty pictures of it?

Of course! Here are a few of the best photos of Venus.
[envira-gallery id=”47706″]

The post Meet Our Solar System: Venus appeared first on Space Center Houston.

This past year has been an exciting time in commercial spaceflight. As such, our Space Exploration Educators Conference keynote sessions this year will highlight the best of spaceflight.

Our first keynote will bring together crew from STS-129 for a talk entitled, “You Never Know Who You Will Inspire: A candid discussion with STS-129 Mission Specialists.” Astronauts Mike Foreman, Leland Melvin, Nicole Stott, and Bobby Satcher will discuss how their backgrounds inspired them to reach for the stars.

Commander Charlie Hobaugh led the STS-129 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Atlantis. Mission specialists were Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. The mission returned station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth. STS-129 was the final space shuttle crew rotation flight to or from the space station.

Friday’s keynote will feature NASA Associate Administrator Mike Kincaid and Howard C. Hu, Deputy Program Manager, Orion Program, NASA-Johnson Space Center. In this talk, you’ll learn about the newest initiatives from NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.

As associate administrator, Mike Kincaid oversees strategic direction and leadership of NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) engagement function, which attracts and supports the involvement of students in the realization of NASA’s unique missions. Hu leads the design, development, test, verification, and certification of NASA’s next generation human-rated spacecraft for the Artemis missions.

In Saturday’s keynote, meet Blue Origin’s Audrey Powers who flew on the second human flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard program, NS-18. Powers, the Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations for Blue Origin, is responsible for New Shepard flight operations and training, vehicle maintenance, and launch complex infrastructure at Launch Site One.

The post Astronauts and Commercial Space Highlight SEEC 2022 Keynotes appeared first on Space Center Houston.

What’s it made of?

Mercury’s structure is a mix of metals and silica. It has a large metallic core with a radius of about 1,289 miles (2,074 kilometers), about 85 percent of the planet’s radius. There is evidence that it is partly molten, or liquid. Mercury’s outer shell, comparable to Earth’s outer shell (called the mantle and crust), is only about 400 kilometers (250 miles) thick.

Mercury’s surface resembles that of Earth’s moon, scarred by many impact craters resulting from collisions with meteoroids and comets. Craters and features on Mercury are named after famous deceased artists, musicians or authors, including children’s author Dr. Seuss and dance pioneer Alvin Ailey.

Can we live there?

Never say never, but Mercury may be the most inhospitable planet in the entire solar system. Because of its proximity to the Sun, day temperatures can reach highs of 800°F (430°C). Without an atmosphere to retain that heat at night, temperatures can dip as low as -290°F (-180°C).

Instead of an atmosphere, Mercury possesses a thin exosphere made up of atoms blasted off the surface by the solar wind and striking meteoroids. Mercury’s exosphere is composed mostly of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium and potassium.

So for humans to survive there, a habitat would need to survive and regulate those extreme temperatures.

How long is a year there? What about a day?

You know how, on some afternoons, an hour can seem to last for days? On Mercury, one day can last for almost a year.

Mercury completes an orbit of the sun in 88 Earth days, by far the fastest planet in the solar system. However, it’s own “day” lasts much longer than an Earth day. In fact, it takes 59 Earth day for Mercury to rotate on its axis once.

Has NASA sent any missions there

NASA’s Mariner 10 was the first mission to explore Mercury. Mariner 10 also studied Venus while using the planet’s gravity to modify its speed and trajectory, enabling it to reach Mercury. Launched on Nov. 3, 1973, Mariner 10 was 1,100 pounds (502.9 kilograms) and was the first spacecraft to use the gravity of one planet to reach another.

Mariner 10 made its first flyby of Mercury on March 29, 1974 and made two more flybys over the next year. It studied the magnetosphere, took photos of the planet’s surface, and discovered that the planet did not have an atmosphere.

Mariner 10 returned more than 2,700 photos covering nearly half of the planet’s surface.

NASA’s MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) was the first to orbit the innermost planet. Launched on Aug. 3, 2004, MESSENGER reached orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011. It stayed orbiting the planet until its mission was completed on April 30, 2015.

During this time, MESSENGER was able to provide compelling support for the long-held hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters.

But the tilt of Mercury’s rotational axis is almost zero – less than one degree – so there are pockets at the planet’s poles that never see sunlight.

Scientists continue to study the images and data returned by MESSENGER, discovering in 2017a broad valley that’s more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long. About 250 miles (400 kilometers) wide and 2 miles (3 kilometers) deep, Mercury’s great valley is smaller than Mars’ Valles Marineris, but larger than North America’s Grand Canyon and wider and deeper than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

Can I see it from here?

Mercury is a “bright” planet, meaning it is easily visible without a telescope or lens and, thus, has been seen by humans for millennia. In 2021, Mercury will be brightest and easiest to spot in the evening sky between May 3 and May 24; brightest and easiest to spot in the morning sky between October 18 and Nov. 1.

Are there any pretty pictures of it?

Of course! Here are a few of the best photos of Mercury.

[envira-gallery id=”47648″]

The post Meet Our Solar System: Mercury appeared first on Space Center Houston.

Due to severe weather, we will close at 2 p.m. Sept. 13 and will remain closed through Sept. 14 to protect the safety of our guests and crew members.

The center plans to reopen Sept. 15. However, we are monitoring weather conditions and will announce any further changes to the reopening date and operating hours on spacecenter.org and on the center’s social media pages.

We will honor general admission tickets if you would like to visit another day. If you have booked a scheduled tour or if you would like a refund for your general admission ticket, contact our reservations department at +1 281-283-4755 or reservations@spacecenter.org.

Please, stay safe. The Harris County Public Health agency has information here on how to prepare for severe weather. You can also get up-to-date information on rainfall amounts at the Harris County Flood Warning System site here.

As the Texas Department of Transportation says, “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.” Never walk, swim, or drive through still or moving flood waters. The water may be hiding dangers such as debris, tree branches, power lines, or damage to the road. As little as six inches of fast-moving water can cause motorists to lose control of their vehicle, even a pickup truck or SUV.

The post Space Center Houston to Close For Severe Weather appeared first on Space Center Houston.