The International Space Hall of Fame - Part 2, Sunday, April 24, 2022

Continued from Part 1...

After lunch at Taco Bell, we made our way to the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Since we were in the neighborhood and had the afternoon free, we decided to check it out. We're glad we did.

International Space
Hall of Fame.

The outside exhibits drew us into the Space Hall of Fame orbit. We enjoyed poking around and reading about some of the spacecraft, jets, and other interesting stuff (anyone ever tried a Whisper Dish?).

See photo below.

German Air Force Tornado 45+11.

Be sure to read the Fun Fact at the bottom
of this photo. Also see the photo below.

Never having heard of one of these Minitrack Satellite Tracking System Antenna before, we were fascinated that this unassuming piece of equipment could track a  satellite, including Sputnik (after a few quick modifications).

Minitrack Satellite Tracking
System Antenna.

We held ourselves back and didn't climb on any of the exhibits.

These aliens really get around!

The outside exhibit area is called the John P. Stapp Air & Space Park. This part of the Space Hall of Fame is free.

Lockheed X-7A Test Vehicle.

I don't have a photo of this rocket engine.

Aerobee 150 and
MGM-52 Lance Missile.

Below is the "Whisper Dish." It takes two people to try this, one at each dish. See photos below.

"Whisper Dish" directions.

One person stands at each of the "Whisper Dishes." One person whispers into the ring. The other person on the other side puts their ear to ring and can hear what is said through the first dish 30' away. It's cool.

The other "Whisper Dish."

The F-1 Rocket Engine.

X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mockup.

IGOR Missile Tracking Telescopic 
camera instrument.

Little Joe 2.

Watch your step outside.

It was time to pay admission and see what the International Space Hall of Fame had to offer. We spent the afternoon learning about astronomy, rocket science, the space race, HAM the chimpanzee, telescopes, inertial navigation, Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek, and a variety of rockets.

This is the man the park
outside is named for.

Early history of astronomy and 
the space race.

The history wall continued.

Archeoastronomy (I didn't 
know there was such a thing.)

Telescopes.

Sputnik.

See photo below.

Armillary sphere.

The next few photos are about HAM (short for Holloman Aerospace Medical), the first chimpanzee in space. 

HAM's quarters during spaceflight.

Chimpanzee restraint suit.

The story of HAM.

Mercury primate
capsule.

Where did rocket science come from,
in a nutshell.

The layout of the museum was pretty logical. We took the elevator to the 4th floor and wound our way down the levels back to the main floor.

Rockets in history.

Rocket scientists:
Wernher von Braun,
Eberhard Rees.

Robert Goddard, "Father of
Modern Rocketry."

Sir Isaac Newton.

A few interesting things in addition to the exhibits...

Garbage cans look like rockets.

Sign to the women's rest room.

I had to take pictures in a couple of the restrooms. In the restroom I used, the floor was painted like the sky. It looked like you were walking on air. (I even matched the decor. LOL.)

Beautiful floor.

This restroom gave you a
view of space from the toilet.

"Beam me up, Scotty."

Other exhibits included the moon rock, spacesuits from different space missions, manufacturing pharmaceuticals in space, and did I mention Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek?

A display of spacesuits.

Moon rock display.

Gene Rodenberry/Star Trek exhibit.

This museum is worth a visit, in our opinions. It took us about three hours to go through the inside and the outside park. We did not spend extra money to see any of the 45-minute movies.

We drove back to Ruidoso and took the evening off. Tomorrow, we have three walks planned.