A Visit to Alabama Part Six

The day after the Space and Rocket Center, we paid to take a bus tour onto the Redstone Arsenal where the testing took place for the first space rockets for the very first astronauts. We got to see the training facility that is designed to match the International Space Station EXACTLY. It is where they send the astronauts before they head into space to get familiar with the facility and where everything is located. It was kind of like a TV show set. All the doors open and contain the exact things that can be found in space. We got to visit the payload operation system building that is the actual place that the astronauts that are currently on the International Space Station interact with. They have employees who monitor the astronauts 24/7 and are there to answer any question or situation they have. They have a huge wall of screens that monitor weather, radio frequencies and a million other things. They talk to the astronauts all the time, we got to see an astronaut exercising on the space station, and see how they coordinate with Houston and Cape Canaveral. They talked to us about how the employees have the most strict working schedules. They cannot leave their station ever. Not to eat, not to use the restroom, nothing. Of course, there is several people who do the same job, but I loved to learn about how the on earth support helps with all that is being done in space.

Our tour guide

Love the flags light covers on the ceiling!

 They brought in empty metal shipping containers and buried them in the hills near the testing sites so they could watch what was basically a controlled explosion go off and see how to modify it for the next time. Eric Willey, Nanny's husband or "Granddad" as we call him now used to work on the base and it is the reason he lives in Huntsville. Shortly after we returned home, we watched the movie "Hidden Figures" about some of the real life ladies that helped the space program get off the ground and were invaluable in sending the first men into space. Pretty cool that we were able to see it first hand and imagine what it was like to be a part of history.