A Night Under The Stars At Space Center Houston
My five year old son and I recently spent an amazing weekend pretending we were astronauts, building rockets and sharing whispers beneath the glow of a space station. Pack your sleeping bags and prepare for one of Houston's most unique camping experiences -- under the stars or amongst some of the rarest spaceflight artifacts on Earth -- as part of an Overnight Family Campout at Space Center Houston.
Our adventure began on a Saturday with a 4:30pm arrival at Space Center Houston. We parked, checked in and had about an hour to explore the open exhibits before the building closed to the public. We immediately checked out Independence Plaza, featuring the shuttle carrier Boeing 747 aircraft NASA 905 and the high-fidelity shuttle replica Independence. This small outdoor park lets you get as close as you may ever get to the exterior of a 747 and my son was quite excited to explore the engines. We then ascended a tower to tour two levels of the shuttle replica and the main level of the aircraft. My son loved the interactive exhibits in the aircraft showing how it was reinforced to carry a spaceship. We had just enough time before dinner to also check out the Kids Space Place which featured a variety of interactive kid-friendly activities like an Angry Birds exhibit, driving a remote Mars rover, a shuttle landing simulator and a shuttle launch experience.
A buffet dinner was served in Space Center's Zero-G Diner and we were able to chat with other camper families and scouts, many who had traveled from as far as San Antonio and Ft. Worth. My son's favorite part of dinner was not one, but TWO cookies! As if the event itself wasn't enough of a special treat, who knew the power of two cookies to start an adventure in the right direction? After our meal we viewed a Welcome Show in the Mission Briefing Center where we learned our ground rules for the campout and were introduced to staff. We were then dismissed to start building a model rocket. Rather than 400 campers shooting off rockets at the same time, campers were divided into a handful of groups. Our group received detailed step-by-step instructions for how to build the rocket. One team rocket per group would be shot off later that night.
With the rocket built, we had two hours to make our way through ten available activities stationed throughout the Center. We had enough time to participate in seven activities, including a few geared towards older kids. I loved that there was a great mix of activities to choose from -- some were independent and some needed help, some were crafty and others were more technical, some were active and others were stationary. My son had fun making a moon rock out of clay and crafting and launching a foam rocket. He had a blast using a robot rover to collect Mars "rocks," programming a Bee Bot with code to navigate a maze and running a Sphero robot through a course. He was able to train like an astronaut and build a robotic hand (the most complex task for us which required the most mom help). At 10pm all of the campers headed to the parking lot for the rocket launch as we ooed and aahed for each group's rocket blast.
Campers choose from two unique camping locations when registering. For a traditional outdoor experience you are able to set your tent up in Independence Plaza, right underneath the looming Boeing 747 (there's always space reserved inside for inclement weather). Due to the summer heat we chose to set up our sleeping bags indoors and were assigned an outrageous spot near the enormous Skylab 1-G Trainer. I had a bit of trepidation about the actual camping part of the night. With a regular bedtime of 7pm, how would my son handle crashing at 11pm in a room full of people? Would we have enough to do to entertain us until the wee hours? Would anyone get sleep? Needless to say, we had such an exciting night and were so busy that we barely made it into our sleeping bags for lights out. After lights out the center was quite quiet within mere moments. No murmuring or giggling... just the sounds of the AC humming along. It didn't take long for most everyone to crash and my son got about 7 hours of sleep. I had quite a bit of trouble adjusting to sleeping on the ground (it's been maybe 15 years since I last slept in a sleeping bag) and only got about 4 hours of sleep. Moms definitely know how to survive on little sleep, though!
We were woken at 6:45am the next morning, packed up our gear into our car and headed for a buffet breakfast at the Zero-G Diner. Campers have two options for Day 2 - pickup a return ticket and come back for a fresh visit on a different day or start your next day visit with a private Johnson Space Center tram tour (once you start the tram tour you aren't eligible for return admission tickets). If you have family that would like to meet you on the second day, you can purchase additional tickets on Saturday night for a discounted $12.95 (kids ages 3 and under are free). This is really the only part of our experience where we ran into a bit of trouble. My son invited my husband and 3 year old twins to meet us for Day 2. They did not make it to Space Center Houston in time for the private tram tour, so we had a few minutes together in the Center before we were asked to leave until the Center officially opened to the public at 9am. This upset my kids a bit for being shuffled out, then the crank continued as they were shuffled to an opening line, then shuffled to a tram line, then shuffled along a tram tour in the heat (albeit early heat). I should have either had my guests meet us much earlier to catch the private tram tour or after public opening hours to avoid everyone starting off on the wrong foot. After the tram tour the heat of the day really caught up with us and we didn't get a chance to visit all of the exhibits before calling it quits. What did I learn? There's plenty to see and you need plenty of time to see it all. I absolutely cannot wait until my twins turn five so that we can all come back as a family and experience the campout together (and get a second chance to see exhibits we missed the first time around).
The last weekend family campout in 2018 is October 6-7 (Columbus Day weekend) with dates in 2019 including January 12-13, March 9-10 (Spring Break), June 22-23, August 31-Sept. 1 (Labor Day) and Oct. 26-27. In addition to the STEM activities and camping experience, the $59.95 per person registration includes buffet dinner and breakfast and a second-day visit to Space Center Houston. All campers must be at least 5 years old. For additional details and to register, visit spacecenter.org. Other overnight experiences are also offered for military families, scouts and FIRST LEGO League.
Space Center Houston is located at 1601 NASA Pkwy., Houston, 77058.
My family was provided complimentary registration for this review. View our full FTC Disclosure Statement here.
