June 2 - Huntsville, Alabama

 On our way out of Nashville, we decided to stop by the Grand Ole Opry. I was in Nashville in the late 70’s and I remember the Grand Ole Opry being an older theater downtown. Now the Opry is a new brick theater in a complex with a shopping mall, theaters, and the biggest Dave & Buster’s I have ever seen.

We had a short drive from Nashville to Huntsville (everything is a ville out here). Tennessee is a beautiful state with rolling hills and excellent highways. The highways have been cut through mountains so there are gorgeous rock walls along the drive. There are no potholes and the grass is cut. Crossing over into Alabama was like being back in Ohio. The roads were not great and look pretty raggedy since they don’t cut the grass.  The landscape was immediately flat, also.

When we arrived in Huntsville, we were too early to check in so we went directly to the Marshall (same guy as in The Marshall Plan) Space Center.  If you are ever in this area of the country, this is a must see. NASA has 38,000 acres in Huntsville, Alabama…who knew?

At the end of WWII Wehner von Braun and 118 German scientists were brought over to the US (originally in New Mexico then moved to Alabama).  The Germans were way ahead in developing rockets and lucky for us the war ended before they got one off the ground.  Wehner and friends fit in really well with the southerners (being Nazi’s who hated everybody just like the southerners) and started to build the area and develop rockets. Eisenhower didn't quite ‘get it’, but Kennedy surely did and the space race began.

This facility is the development and test site of all the rockets.  Right now Huntsville specializes in the development of the ELS (Exploration Life Support) system.  They develop the suits and the systems to recycle water and create oxygen.  All moisture is collected from the body and recycled into potable water.  So yes, the astronauts are actually up there drinking their pee. (In addition to claustrophobia, another reason for Theresa not to become an astronaut).

Huntsville tests all the rocket engines and there are test stands all over including the test stand for space shuttle. Cape Canaveral is responsible for the launches; Johnson Space Center in Houston is responsible for the mission after it is in space; and Goddard Space Center in Maryland is responsible for the unmanned space exploration missions (like Hubble).

Huntsville Marshall Space Center is the location for the Space Camp for kids. There is a large museum outlining the history of the space program and rockets all over the place.  We went on a bus tour of the Redstone development area and saw where Wehner and friends tested early rockets. A lot of the buildings are old and busted looking. The test stands are rusted, the buildings are older and look like they are falling apart; and you would never believe that leading edge development is being done here. The US is leading the world in space exploration. Can’t we get some paint and try to make the place look a little better??????????

                                                      This is the space shuttle test stand.

(We had dinner at an Alabama barbecue restaurant called Dreamland…really; the women here call everybody, ‘hon’).