Saturday afternoon was punctuated by a trip to Space Center Houston. I had been there before, briefly, and had a reasonably-enjoyable time on the tour. (The pic of the Soyuz for astronaut training was taken by me on this previous tour.) I hoped to take Megan on the tour to show her “where it all happens” (at least from the outside of the buildings where I work with folks).
Returning with my wife to the visitor’s center, we immediately headed for the tour. Waiting in line for 30 minutes (after having our photo taken for “security purposes” [see below]) I couldn’t help but note the TV’s with a continuous loop of commercial spots and propaganda such as a message from the mayor of Webster, TX discussing the impact of JSC on the local community. The tour only visited the old mission control facility (restored to it’s ’70′s-era state) and the guides gave little information to the visitors. I think we were in the mission control room for less than 15 minutes, total.
On the way back, my wife and I decided to hop off the tram to visit the Saturn V (being lovingly-restored by the Smithsonian Institution). We spent a bit of time taking a couple photos, then returned to where the next tram should pick us up. A single employee was waiting there and discussed his (part-time summer minimum-wage) job with another visitor while we waited, and waited. Another 15 minutes of waiting, and a tram came by, but no one was organizing boarding and it was a free-for-all mess that left us without a spot, even though we were the first people to wait for the tram. I could not believe how poorly this was organized and managed, saying some expletives and leading me to go off to cool down (and I’m normally a very calm, level-headed person, but my frustration was mounting.)
Finally returning to the visitor center building after they finally summoned a second, empty, tram to make up for the extra traffic (total tour time ~2h for ~30m of actual tour time), and blazing past the counter where we could spend $20 to pay for a copy of our “security photo”, we wandered around to see what else there was to see and do. I was amazed, astounded, and shocked to see that there is almost no educational or historical exhibits explaining what NASA does. Most of the exhibits are either cheap amusement-park exhibits, kiddie playground equipment, or rides that cost extra (on top of the $5 parking and $19/adult and $15/child entry fee!)
The few semi-educational exhibits were prominently covered with advertisements, such as the “living in space” exhibit/talk with a large sign mentioning that it was sponsored by Borden foods.
Only other thing that caught our eye was a set of space suits contained within glass displays. Sadly, some of the displays were behind a rope in a waiting area for the movie theater (which, I assume, also cost extra to enter) including an apollo-era suit.
Needless to say, we left fairly quickly after we had returned from the tour. Luckily, I get free entry, but Megan had to pay to get in. I had to wonder what families with 2 kids (costing ~$80 just to get in) must think about this place. It was quite obvious that there was little focus on education, outreach, history, or inspiration. Far more was spent on entertainment, advertising, and making yet more money from the hapless people who came thinking they were going to be experiencing something special with their family.
I’ve been to the visitor center at KSC, and it’s half as bad…Seemed to me that the KSC visitor center had education more prominent and less of the “playground” or “theme park” feel, but there was still a bit of the commercialism aspect to it.
All the frustration has got me to thinking, if it’s broken, how would I fix it? I assume that Space Center Houston is run by a foundation, corporation, or some other private entity that must turn a profit or at least cover costs with ticket sales and concessions. I see four options:
- The sponsors (or other sponsors stepping up to the plate) could encourage Space Center Houston to refocus on education and not on advertising and entertainment, perhaps it could be rescued.
- NASA could divest their name from Space Center Houston and stop the on-center tours (or run the tours separately from SCH.) As it stands now, SCH is an embarrassment that, to me, would do more harm than good in trying to encourage our next generation of scientists, engineers, and astronauts.
- NASA could “in-source” the facility and refocus much of the facility towards education, history, inspiration, and outreach. Sponsorship, in the “public TV” model, might still be appropriate but would not be required to keep the facility operating.
- The Smithsonian Institution could take over SCH. Compare SCH to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in DC. The latter has a much stronger focus on education, history, and inspiration, and it’s free! Nothing pisses folks off more than giving them less for their money. Charging them nothing means they’ll not be out to get the most out of their entertainment dollars…
I feel NASA needs to seriously reconsider the role of the visitor center in its planning and development of education, outreach, and historical preservation activities. For many Americans (and visitors to the US), visitor centers are the only experience they have of NASA–perhaps it shouldn’t leave them with the feeling they have been taken as rubes by high school-age hucksters.
