Houston - Things to Do - NASA

NASA has been controlling space flight from the Johnson Space Center , 25 miles south of Houston off I-45 (bus #246 from downtown), since the launch of Gemini 4 in 1965 locals love to point out that the first word ever spoken on the moon was "Houston." As a working facility, it's not fully geared to tourists, but three tram tours will give you a glimpse into different parts of the grounds. Start with an impressive array of hands-on exhibits at the Space Center Houston (summer daily 9am7pm, rest of year MonFri 9am5pm, Sat & Sun 10am7pm; $14.95; tel 281-244-2100, www.spacecenter.org ); you get to try on space helmets, inspect moonrocks and some remarkably rickety-looking rocket replicas, join astronauts and scientists in the cafeteria, and stock up on gimmicky space-themed merchandising.