You can't miss the Space Center off I-565--it's the complex with the replica Saturn V rocket pointing skyward. You can see it for miles. The real Saturn V is lying on its side.

Museum

Inside you walk through a variety of exhibits recounting the twin roles of Marshall Space Center--NASA rocket testing development and Army rocket development and testing.

Models and recreations make up much of the museum portion of the Center. There are a few original artifacts -- a piece of moon rock, piece of Skylab, and many rocket motors and systems.

Of course, you can't just have a museum, so there are interactive exhibits. For example, I sat in a Shuttle cockpit simulation and tried to land. Being an old fighter jock--er, make that a veteran fighter jock--I did it on the first try. True, I was 30 feet off center line, and I didn't flare up as sharply so I ran a little long, but it was a smooth landing upon touchdown.

From Apollo to To Mars

After that, I climbed inside a mock up of an Apollo capsule, flicking a few buttons for the camera. Quite a tight fit, especially for a trio in space suits.

"Hey, where's the "room service" button?"

Forget about dancing in zero-gee to blaring Van Halen ala the Mission to Mars movie--these guys would have enough trouble tapping a toe to a transistor radio.

An Apollo 16 exhibit (See left), complete with capsule and space suit, is just before the Mars ride, which I am told is one of the most popular rides in the center. During the summer, the lines stretch for about an hour's wait.

It's a quick trip to Mars, you see, in an enclosed amusement park ride. In essence, you and 20 screaming kids are locked into a gyrating box. This box perches atop hydraulic lifts. Suffice it to say, a trip across the Martian surface is too boring for your average short-attention span kid, so instead, you fall into a Martian theme park on a rollercoaster.

As the front projection TV screen sends you up, down, and around a Martian cavern, the hydraulic lift, drop, and wiggle to add to your excitement. It's quite good and akin to the Star Wars ride at Disneyland of several years ago. So round and round you go, the ride swaying and bucking at each turn or drop, until finally sliding to a stop at Martian central.

Space Stations

Beyond this, more exhibits of space artifacts beckoned. The space station exhibit (see right) a bit more spacious than the Apollo capsule. You can't walk inside, but you can peer through the airlock.

A mockup of the Mir space station captured my attention with all its signs warning about disorientation. What they did was tilt the floor about 20 degrees off center--that is, keep the floor level, but tilt the exhibit 20 degrees so that you had a momentary bit of confusion about what's up, down, and level. Hanging an astronaut in yet another off-center position above you on the "ceiling" adds to the illusion. My internal gyroscope was O.K., although I had a momentary desire to lean.

Rocket Park

Leaving the building, you head out the backdoor into Rocket Park. There's an engine just outside the door.

Of note is the large globe (see lower left of photo) I'm told is a pogo. Evidently, for I'm not a rocket scientist, but was given a tour by a former rocket scientist (and now I can brag that I know a real rocket scientist), pogoing causes severe vibration, and such a device eliminates the effect.

A number of Army rocketry weapons and NASA rockets stand in Rocket Park, with additional rockets and weapon system developed by the Marshall Flight center placed around the perimeter. In some ways, it seems like a technological Stonehenge.

Of interest to kids and iron-stomached adults is Space Shot, a ride that lofts you upward at about 3 or 4Gs--about what the Space Shuttle does. Basically, chairs encircle a central tower. You sit in a seat, a restraint comes over the top of your head and across your chest. Your legs dangle and your arms are free, although mine were clutching the restraint. I was looking westward.

All of a sudden, the entire seating gizmo gets propelled upwards as wind whistles past you. Your stomach sinks, but you don't possess enough time to be alarmed, for just as quickly, the chair halts, you're thrown upwards against the restraint, and the chair drops from underneath you and you plummet about half way down. From there, you take a couple of bounces before gently returning to the surly bonds of earth. It's all quite exhilarating and for a brief moment, you are in that rarest of motions--zero G (well, sort of...). I would recommend a pre-lunch launch timetable, as after lunch could cause you and your lunch to launch.

A full-scale replica of the Saturn V is next door but the real thing is lying on its side at the back of Rocket Park. You really start to get a feel for the size of a Saturn V as you walk along its length.

A mock-up of a LEM sits in a concrete replica of the Moon, and you'll circle it on the way to the Redstone rockets.

Behind those is the only full scale Space Shuttle, complete with fuel tank and booster rockets, around on display. It is truly massive and requires a healthy distance in order to snap a photo of the entire vehicle. Indeed, NASA came to remove a spare part or two after the shuttle disaster.

Back inside, it's up the stairs to U.S. Space Defense Command and a history of "threats" to the U.S. Naturally, a video game allows you to defend the U.S. from ships, aircraft, and ICBMS. It's a good thing people are trained for this, because if it were left to my hands, enough nukes would get by to fry 1/3 of the country, to say nothing of the British ships that passed my cannon, or the Japanese ships and planes that passed my gun.

We went back outside and took a look at some of the weaapon systems. In the foreground is the Hawk antiaircraft missile system. Behind that is the MLRS recently used the Gulf War during Operation Desert Storm. Also on display is a Chapperal, as well as other missiles.

Photo of Hawk and MLRS (slow: 97K)

Next, we took a ride on G-Force, a padded drum that spins at 45 mph and creates 4Gs to plaster you against the wall. This, too, is not for the faint of heart. There is an effect, and I can't recall what it is, but while I was plastered up against the slightly sloping wall, I felt fine looking towards the center of the drum and to my left, but looking to my right, my stomach became queasy and I suffered from motion sickness. Sure enough, look back to the center and all was well. Look to the right and my stomach is flopping around like an inept gymnast. It has something to do with the direction of rotation and eye perception. Don't ask me. Ask a rocket scientist. In any case, I survived, of course, but again, I would recommend a pre-lunch twirl.

Last, or first, depending upon the order, is a SR-71 Blackbird. Once a spy jet and then a NASA research craft, it now is a rusting doorway guardian.

IMAX

We did not take the bus tour of the Marshall Flight Test Center, but we did catch the IMAX movie about becoming an astronaut. Not a heckuva lot on specifics, but some nice space shots. The mini-preview film about a French precision flying team was quite good, but I wish they had left the cockpit view on a little longer. Jumping back and forth to side views sort of ruined the perception of flying, and then when they switched the ground views, it made me feel I was watching a movie, not experiencing acrobatics.

One interesting observation: on the ground, the precision seems so perfect. In the cockpit, there is jockeying up and down and side to side as the pilots keep in formation. Also, they sometimes deploy airbrakes and landing gear to cut speed during a few particularly tricky acrobatics.

There was also another "flight simulator" regarding prop and jet aircraft. It's a little campy, with Terrence Stamp narrating like you've just arrived at Top Gun school, which is o.k., but highly ironic that they talk about enemy fighters, but when you get behind one, you never fire. Cockpit views are excellent, though. Aircraft include Sopwith Camel, P-38, P-51, and F-105.

Thus, Snoopy, when the show positions "your" Sopwith Camel behind the Fokker Triplane, all the while jabbering about enemy attacks and targets, do you think the Red Baron goes down in flames? Likewise, the P-38 and P-51 race across the ocean towards a lighthouse. Let's just say the longer your attention span, the more thrilling the show.

And the last stop was the gift shop with its cornucopia of wares serious and superfluous, from aliens to model rockets to books about flight as well as Star Wars. I picked up a mug to commemorate my visit.

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