HOUSTON — Houston has been with NASA’s Space Shuttle Program for 30 years and 135 missions, and this weekend, Houston and NASA will celebrate together as a souvenir of the program arrives in Clear Lake.
A full-scale shuttle replica will be arriving by barge in Clear Lake on Friday, June 1, destined for a permanent home as a space shuttle visitor experience at Space Center Houston, the official visitor’s center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. To commemorate its arrival, Space Center Houston has a full weekend of activities planned, where attendees can not only witness the attraction’s arrival, but learn more about space exploration past, present and future.
The Shuttlebration Weekend, as the event is being called, will begin Friday afternoon June 1, as the new attraction arrives at the Johnson Space Center dock at the intersection of NASA Parkway and Space Center Blvd. the same dock that saw the arrival of the Saturn V rocket in 1977.
Along with this unique and historic site, the public is invited to take a look at some of the hardware NASA is developing for future exploration, including its Space Exploration Vehicle rovers. Attendees will also have a chance to see a spacesuit demonstration, meet an astronaut and even touch a moon rock in the Driven to Explore exhibit. Food and entertainment will also be available at the street party, which will open at 2 p.m.
On Saturday, June 2, the Space Shuttle attraction will be loaded onto a mobile transfer vehicle for transport to Space Center Houston. The lakeside load-out will take a full day to complete. No public events are planned.
Early in the morning on Sunday, June 3, the attraction will make a three-hour trek down NASA Parkway from the Hilton to its permanent home at Space Center Houston. It will be escorted by the Space Exploration Vehicle rovers, local scout troops and marching bands. Upon arrival at Space Center Houston, the public will have another chance to see the new attraction up close, along with a full-scale mockup of NASA’s new Orion spacecraft. And attendees can again meet an astronaut and touch a real moon rock during the free public celebration, which will be held in the Space Center Houston parking lot from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information on the Shuttlebration activities, visit the Space Center Houston website at: http://www.spacecenter.org/shuttlebration.html
For information on how traffic will be affected in the area throughout the weekend, visit: http://www.shuttlevolunteer.com/content/traffic/traffic.asp
For more information on NASA programs past, present and future visit: http://www.nasa.gov
