Suburban Extended Stay Huntsville

Sure, it's not Notre Dame or St. Pauls. Still....

by LBKesner

The First Baptist Church on Governor's Drive in Huntsville features a space needle-type bell tower and a spacey mosaic of Christ. Venice has St. Mark's, London has St. Paul's, Paris has Notre Dame, and Huntsville has...First Baptist.

For information about the artwork, visit:
http://www.fbchsv.org/aboutfbc/mosaic.html

Some of our pictures from Huntsville

by tony248

"U.S. Space & Rocket Center"

A Mercury capsule on a Redstone rocket. This is the combination that put the first American in space. The Redstone was a trustworthy design but did not have the power to put the Mercury capsule into orbit. See the tall slim structure in the background? I think they still call it the G-Force Accelerator. You strap into this thing and it shoots you to the top of the tower to simulate a rocket take off. DO NOT stand too close to the bottom of this ride unless you are using an umbrella. Think about it :)

"U.S. Space & Rocket Center"

The first giant rocket. This is the Saturn 1B. This was used in the Apollo program to sent the 3-man capsule into orbit. It was also used to launch the Sky Lab space station. If I remember correctly, this rocket could launch the Apollo capsule and the Lunar Module into orbit for testing and training. A bigger rocket was needed for the Moon shot.

"U.S. Space & Rocket Center"

Just how big is big? I had a couple of women who were visiting the Rocket Park to stand at the bottom end of the Saturn 5 rocket to give you some idea of just how huge the rocket is. Impressive.

"U.S. Space & Rocket Center"

A view of the Rocket Park. Note the engines in the foreground. Smaller engines, smaller rockets. Larger engines, larger rockets. Many rockets group several engines together. I think the USSR was the first to use multiple engines on their rockets. On the N1 rocket, this concept was pushed too far. The engineering problems were not worked out and the rocket blew itself to pieces and destroyed the launch pad. The US and its own trouble with engines. The program "Rockets Red Glare" that has been on TV several times is an excellent documentary on our problems in the early years of rocket science.

"U.S. Space & Rocket Center"

Another view of the Rocket Park.

"U.S. Space & Rocket Center"

You know what this is. The Space Shuttle with the main fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. You can just make out my wife standing under the fuel tank.