5. Infinity & Beyond!

Authors: Dave & Meghan

​Alright, enough with the mushy stuff.  We're underway now and there are no tears travelling (this is a theory at the moment, I'll confirm at a later date - will deny if attributed to me).

We've finally caught our blog up with reality and will now be able to provide updates in a slightly more timely fashion.  The last few days have been taken up by transport, layovers and some beach time. On Friday morning we were up at 3am in order to get through security and catch our 6am flight.  Going through customs in Calgary to Houston, the border guard asked us where we were going.  I told him through Houston and onward to Costa Rica.  He asked if we were coming back the same way and when. I explained that we were on a round-the-world trip for the next seven months and wouldn't be travelling back through the States.  He blinked and then said good luck with that.  Ah, the confidence instilled by authority!

Except for a thorough de-icing (which the pilot - in his thick Texan drawl - explained was a new process for him. What?!), the flight was uneventful. We picked up our bags and proceeded to the airport hotel, checked-in and collected the car we rented for the day.  Megs will share our experience regarding the Johnson Space Centre (NASA!).

The first thing we saw was the space shuttle on top of a big plane. It was massive.  When we walked into the space centre it was overwhelming at first because you saw everything at once - exhibits, lots of people, big displays.  Wow, I didn't realize how big it was.  

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At school, I have been learning about space and our solar system so I was looking forward to this visit. We learned about the moon and planets so it was cool to see some of the space ships that have been there and come back to Earth.  We even got to touch rocks from the moon and Mars.  We wanted to go to Mission Control but it was a two hour wait and we only had four hours until it closed.  Instead, we looked at the displays on the NASA space program. It was neat to learn about how they live in the shuttle and to be able to go into one on top of the airplane.  It was very big and crowded - it was hard to see everything.

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One thing I was really interested in were the robo-nauts.  These are robots that help astronauts do stuff that would need more work by people.  Robots don't get tired and can do work that might be unsafe for humans. I also liked learning about how Canada helps explore space. We gave the shuttle the Canadarm, which helps move satellites out of the cargo hold.  I really enjoyed this experience and would love to go back again to see more of the museum.

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Jumping ahead slightly, we were having a conversation with the kids over lunch regarding what they learned at the space centre.  Avery really liked seeing Commander Hadfield's videos about living in space.  As Beetles' songs played in the background, she remembered that he had brought his guitar onto the International Space Station and wondered if he played Here Comes the Sun (her favourite) while he was in space.  Jody suggested we ask him on Twitter.  He responded in under two minutes!! We all thought it was cool for Avery to have a brush with a scientific celebrity! 

Shhh - don't tell them, but school on the road has already begun...

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