3/20 The Museum of Space History, Alamogordo, NM

This museum and the town of Alamogordo, NM, is near one of my favorite state parks in New Mexico, which I will be writing about in a couple of days.  I have been to the campground several times over the years, but only once before to the museum--in 2015.  

The weather has been horrible the week with windy and cold conditions to the point where i have seldom been outside.  we also had two big dust storms that meant if you went outside you got dust on your clothing, your hair, and between your teeth, so I have been inside a lot.  I had to dump my tanks and pick up some prescriptions on this first really nice day, so while I was in town doing that, i decided to stop by here and see what was new.  And in fact, the museum has expanded substantially in the past 10 years, with lots of new space and exhibits.

Alamogordo is very close to White Sands National Park, which abuts the land where the first rockets were tested after WWII.   Many of the exhibits here came from those first years of testing the first atomic bombs and the early rocket testing. it is well worth spending an hour or two here. 

The museum is easy to find because it is just southeast of town, on the slope of the mountain range to the east. 

 

Not quite as many rockets and parts as the White Sands museum I posted previous to this, but it was worth walking through.

 

The V2 rocket engine just below this plaque has certain been through a lot!

  

 

  

You enter on the first or ground floor and take this elevator to the 5th floor.  Then you go through the museum from the top down, stopping at half-floors as you walk on gently sloped ramps to the bottom.  

 

 The doors open, and it looks like you are in the cockpit of a rocket.  There are also realistic sound effects.  Disney, here we come!  

 

I could not possibly take photographs of everything in the museum, but this shows you how they start with the history of people exploring the stars.   

 

I thought this exhibit of the chimp that tested many of the rockets was interesting.  He spent his retirement at the National Zoo but was buried in front of the museum.

This was Ham;s specially made space suit.  Notice that he was also strapped into a plastic pod of sorts and had handles he had to push on command.  He got treats and water when he followed directions. 

 

 

His plastic containment pod.  Looks like a really tight fit.

Following are some random photos of engines and controller modules.  

The interesting thing is how every one of these is full of wire.  Must have taken forever to get it all fit in.  No chips or computer modules.

They had a couple of cameras that were focused on you as you walked past.  This one is ultraviolet light and is labeled "How a Mosquito Sees You."  Obviously, we should not be wearing white, according to this.

 

 

A weather satellite. 

 

 

I took this photo as I was headed down one of the ramps.  The sign on this building says Daisy Track Exhibit.  Here is a link I found that describes it:  https://nmspacemuseum.org/exhibits/daisy-track-x-37/

This was an interesting space food exhibit.  Frankly, nothing in this package looked like fruit cocktail, sausage patties, or toasted bread!!  Yuck.

This stuff looks a lot more edible.  Not sure how the Coke and Pepsi worked.

They had a lot of space suits on display.  The first two are real.

 

 

 

 

This one is obviously a couple of costumes from a movie.

I could have spent more time here, but I had been here before, and it was getting time to head back to my campground.