PhotoTR: 2009 US Space and Rocket Center & Panoply Arts

[TheRapidsNerd]

Launched my 2009 park season this a couple weekends ago with a trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center/Space Camp. Had some great company and more than a few laughs with a sister space geek/humorist and author Kimberly Richardson.

 

We also hit Huntsville's annual Panoply Arts Festival this past weekend. I'm going to post everything over the next few days, so check back if you're so inclined.

 

Ok, science and stuff ahead, so get out your 20-siders and roll for initiative...

Early Jedi star fighter. More pics in a bit.

Um, Mr. Vader, can I have an autograph? Ooo ooo! Better yet, can I get

picture with you while you're choking me with your mind? That would be

cool! (due credit to Kimberly on that one)

Celeb in a Tube alert!

Hold onto your light sabers...

The Skylab model was big pimpin under glass. Note the dollar on the radiators.

Early NASA Stargate...co-developed by Chevron.

Bloody shame that.

My God! It's full of balsa!

I do see modular seating kind of like what's in military helicopters though.

The Galaxy is on Orions Belt. Well, I don't see any galaxies in here.

New hotness. The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle will be the replacement for the Space Shuttle in the coming year. It's often been called Apollo on Steriods.

Old and busted...

This shot bears careful reflection.

This is the 3rd Stage...sponsored by Boston.

Ok, everybody look this way and smile.

Kimberly, my partner in crime for this outing. Pity her. She had to put up with me all day long.

Mr. Bunyon? Yes, this is the Space and Rocket Center calling. We found

your wrist watch...

I want my MTV!

I wanted to be an astronaut until I heard NASA was going back to a space capsule. Now, not so much. Plummeting just isn't my thing.

Landing a man on the moon has always been considered a big time achievement.

See? High back seats for those intense Scrabble matches. Scrabble with engineers and astronauts...yeah, I wouldn't exactly feel like a mental giant at that game...

Ah what fine wood paneling. Hey, this was swanky for the '60's.

Welcome back, now get in there and don't touch nobody.

Anyone else find it ironic that NASA quarentined Apollo astronauts, fearing space disease, in a trailer nicknamed "The Silver Turd"?

Here's what the expansion looked like in March 2008, for comparison.

They've filled in the year old Davidson Compex quite nicely with several new exhibits.

"We break for nobody"

Mr. Umpire is a good guy, so including the penny mashers was a must.

The new sponsors wall in the Davidson Center was backlit with blue LEDs.

What self-respecting nerd doesn't want to bust out the boogie when it

comes to NASA?

[TheRapidsNerd]

Pixie Sticks? Check. Fun Dip? Check. Dr. Pepper (slightly warm)? Check. Alrighty! Time for more space stuff!

I still get tickled that it's so common place to take pictures of your food on this site. Love it! Astronaut souvenir cup + Cherry ICEE = Stellar!

 

That's enough to chew on for tonight. More space and art festival pics tomorrow. Until then...Be Well.

See?

These are not your ordinary condiments. No no. These are SPACE condiments!

Meanwhile in the food court (and to get out of the gully washer) it was "Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit" time.

This quote had a profound effect on me the first time I saw it, years ago at Space Camp.

This space play ground and frog hopper needs KidTums seal of approval.

Parental Recharging Station

Wiener Mobile...on the Moon!

Without Ignignok and Err, this just isn't authentic.

This really makes me miss my GI Joes.

Back to the exhibit, here's a bit more from an ambiguously artsy angle.

And here's what's left of it. Though I can't confirm, I heard a crazy story about Australia or somewhere fining the US for littering. Supposedly, the US never paid.

Before ISS or Mir, there was Skylab, which fell out of orbit many years ago.

It's only a model.

 

No really. It is.

Retired life has been good to Grandpa ED-209.

Ringo really should've taken that left turn at Abby Road.

Nope, still can't decide...

For all you Arrow/S&S tower peeps. Let's hear it for compressed air!

This is either the best or worst helicopter landing I've ever seen. Just can't decide which.

How's it going Bryan and Adam?

Time to go outside and walk around the rocket park. We bumped into Ty's homeskillet who also wanted to say hello to his good buddy Sid from MidSouth Con.

[AllenA07]

Awesome report! So many great references. In two weeks I'll be hitting up the Houston Space Center in order to nerd out for a little bit, maybe it'll even produce a photo TR.

 

You went to space camp? I always wanted to and finally decided that real kids never were lucky enough to get to go to space camp.

[printersdevil78]

Great report! In the bathrooms, do they have suction toilets from the space shuttle that you can use? If so, I might just plan my next vacation around this place....

[TheRapidsNerd]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement folks. Much appreciated.

 

It'd be great to see a PTR from Houston, as several of us could enjoy it, and no "Mr. Thirsty" at the museum. If that were so, I'd never leave.

 

I've heard of lingering over lunch, but over 12 hours?! That's loitering! Let's get back to the action.

IMAX. iCame. iSaw. iConqured. iConclude. iThankYou.

 

A handful of bonus Panoply Art Festival pics later tonight.

If the film conversion is good, this could be epic. And Uhura is beautiful!

Surprise Disney display near the Imax theatre! Tomorrowland!

Space plushie taxidermy.

Mild, Medium, and Raptor Sauce. Even so, I bet these don't hold an after burner to Robb's famous wings.

Gal Book? Guy buy!

I detect a shout out to The Living Seas, The Dollywood Weenie Man, and Larry.

Hi Disneygirls and family.

There's just one food packet in the picture...and you need an eye

appointment.

All the freeze-dried ice cream you can shake a Space Coaster at.

Monkey or Lemur...in a space suit. Sure. Why not...

Let's hit the gift shop for some space swag.

Bloody shame that.

This timely display really grabbed me.

Never noticed these molds of the astronauts' hands before. Nice touch.

Gee You're Hair Smells Terriffic.

 

C'mon, you were thinking it too.

This area celebrates the many women pioneers of space flight.

 

Factoid: The Destiny Lab, one of, if not the largest module, on the International Space Station was put into place by a woman.

Some of the gear we took to the moon, wasn't too different from what's pictured here.

Who knew the man was a pimp? And that would make him a Steam Pimp at that. (crickets) Right then. Moving on...

It's a mock up of the Jules Verne capsule...or a cleverly disquised VIP room.

The following is rated "S" for Steampunk.

Thought this was a neat quote and wanted to share it.

Center Node-age, comrade. This is where Krystall, Spectre, Priroda, and Kvant 2 modules, all got the hook up.

The Mir BaseBlock (main living quarters) exhibit was still here and just as dizzyingly slanted as last year. Yay for Russian Space Stuff!

Comanche was a cool helicopter, but Air Wolf or Blue Thunder could so give it the beat down.

Young Greedo models the latest in Rodian infantry wear.

Hey mate, you got a bit of smudge, right here.

The local Army garrison has displays of future fighting tech and mentions some of it's current programs.

Back to the Future (aka 2009) and here we have Mars Mission. It's kind of like Star Tours and Moon Patrol had a kid, minus robo-peewee.

Team Teledyne Brown Engineering. Our ground mission simulation was a hilarious SNAFU, but our space mission (where I got to put on a space suit and work in the Hubble) placed second and almost won the campwide mission competition.

There's our class in the moon crater you saw earlier in the PTR. I'm on the upper left, all the way at the end. Yes, I'm rockin the mullet.

Graduation was held on Sunday after a full week of projects, mission simulations, bad astronaut food, and EVERY IMAX movie in the catalog at that time. It was sweet to run around the museum after it was closed to the public.

The Habitat was a long metal building, loosely designed like a space station. Every little noise echoed all over it, but it had a cool shape and these big smoke colored bay windows. Somehow, I can't fine my exterior shots. Oh well, this is what the upper hallway looks like.

Since Allen asked about Space Camp, here are a handful of pics from 1990. This was my dorm room inside the Habitat.

Yep I went to Space Camp right here in 1990. They didn't have the ISS mission control on the second floor or those cool black curtains with the fiber optic stars back then.

Aww, my first "Noted!" credit. I feel all warm and snuggly now.

Every year there are Moon Buggy races that simulate driving in various conditions...ON THE MOON. Now we have a simulator, that simulates a moon buggy, that simulates driving in various conditions...ON THE MOON. Amazingly, it actually feels like you're playing Virtual Skeeball.

If you look carefully, it's even EBL and Dan friendly.

80's shuttle astronauts could enjoy Coke in space, thanks to an onboard machine. They even drank out of cans that worked like shaving cream cans.

[Speeddeamon128]

Awesome report! I went to space camp in 2001 & this brought back some memories. Before I became such a coaster dork I wanted to work for NASA!

[dino]

Cool TR, I feel slightly nerdier for having enojoyed it. Love the captions and the retro space camp photos, but...a mullet?...really?

[TheRapidsNerd]

Awesome report! I went to space camp in 2001 & this brought back some memories. Before I became such a coaster dork I wanted to work for NASA!

 

Ahh, then you know the power and the craziness that is Space Camp. Great great fun! Yep, me too. Still love space tuff and also wanted to be an astronaut.

 

Cool TR, I feel slightly nerdier for having enojoyed it. Love the captions and the retro space camp photos, but...a mullet?...really?

 

When you're parents hate long hair and a mullet is your only hope

of a compromise, you go for it...then grow a beard and the rest of your

hair after you go away to college, and scare the daylights out of them

and your girlfriend at the time. Yep, that first visit, ironically the

Opryland park weekend, was great fun.

 

Thank for the kind words guys. Many thanks!

 

Well, that was long standard Plutonian night now wasn't it? Getting back on track are a handful of pics from Panoply, the local arts festival that's held every year downtown. Kimberly and I were treated to gorgeous sunny weather and artwork from around the country. Oh yes, and food.

The Geiko Gecko was a lot bigger in person. Well, the camera does add a few pounds...Hope everyone has enjoyed some of this lighter touristy stuff and I thank you, as always, for taking time to read.

Ruh roh Raggy, it's a rork!

Here's a little bit of downtown at the far end of the food stands. As you can see, it really was a pretty day.

So you think she's dating one of the Blue Man Group?

First time seeing a Living Statue up close. There is a real grace and beauty in that particular performance art.

You got me on this one. Enjoy!

Gee, what does this make you think of?

Not actual sushi.

Indonesian dancing? Really neat to see and made Kimberly and I feel like we were in a street market in the heart of Sri Lanka.

Some cool Asian inspired stonewear.

Waldorf and Statler say "Hi!"

One of my favorite shots of the day.

Through the....you know, why spoil a good moment and a pretty picture?

Figures I gravitate to the one called "Beer and Wings". I raise a cold one to mcjaco, DerekRX, patman007, and the many other beer officionados on the site.

Some inspired sculptural work. Even the kid looks authentic.

That only looks like a big tree. It's really a lady in costume.

Ceramic turtles for Derek. Why? Because they're made by Beer.

Very Steampunk. Mr. Beer is just racking up the cool points now isn't he?

I thought of the beer enthusiasts quite a bit this day. Well, with a name like Beer, it's picture worthy.

Somewhere, the glass Snorks are thoroughly pissed.

Yes friends, the rumors are true. Actual art in an art festival photo TR.

This TR brought to you by the letter M. No really, it is.

I was glad to see the Global Village section with it's booths dedicated

to Huntsville's diverse cultural population. India, Korea, China, and

Australia were all represented, among others. On a side note, there's also a good chunk of Latino, Japanese, Russian and, of course, German influence in this area.

You expecting more food pictures and no real art pictures weren't you? See? we're getting to the art part of this, I promise.

The local college had a decent sized display. Yeah, it was pretty intense.

Yes, they had a Halibut in a liesure suit. Not really. This was one of several free craft projects for the kiddies.

Talk about your toilet humor.

I liked the dome shape of this little booth for some reason. WJAB (We Jab) also struck me funny.

Neat booth, but that Sunday paper would kill ya.

If ever there was a work of art, it's Ben and Jerry's.

You're hungry now. Aren't you.

Bobbahn had it's own signature fries.

Yes. All of it. To go.

Let the ACEr moments begin! (I say that with love because I like to eat too...)

That shag rug art looks amazingly like real grass.

Hey Hey! We're here at Panoply Arts Festival and it's really nice outside!

[thrillerman1]

Huntsville really is a cool little city. I enjoyed the years I lived there back in the 90's. I used to walk to downtown from my house all the time. I went to Panoply a few times back then too. Looks about the same now as it did then except the vendors have gotten cooler and the booth design more extreme. Loved the newspaper booth photo and caption! Haha! Thanks for sharing Rapids.