Houston, Texas

Houston

Oil wells, longhorn cattle and a bit of Texas swagger may be iconic images long associated with Houston, but equally relevant as a symbol for the modern city is the Johnson Space Center, one of the top attractions in Houston. As NASA’s “Mission Control Center,” the space center symbolizes the technological drive of this fourth-largest U.S. city.

Visitors to the space center come face-to-face with actual spacecraft, such as astronaut Gordon Cooper’s Faith 7 capsule from the Mercury Atlas 9 mission and the Apollo 17 Command Module from the last manned mission to the moon. At the Blast Off Theater, the audience feels the simulated lift-off, and on the NASA Tram Tour, guests get to peek behind…