JW, that is a good article. I didn't realizes that Grissom's Mercury capsule ended up at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, a place Joe recommends that everyone should see. Next trip to Missouri, gotta go!

The Denver Museum a few years back (~7 or 8) had Grissom's capsule and other stuff related to his launch - including the roll of mercury dimes he snuck on board. It wasn't too long after it was raised from the floor of the Atlantic. It was a great display. That capsule it REALLY small! I can't imagine riding in that - even for 15 minutes or so.

Ken.

The Liberty Bell exhibit is still he coolest exhibit I have seen to this day.

Art

Man, what I wouldn't give to be sealed up in it for a while with power on... I was really expecting some NCR members to come forward, saying they'd gladly seal me up in a Mercury capsule! 😉

8) The Cosmosphere is about 15min from Kent Burnetts house. And the last trip over there we went. A MUST see, they have the largest collection of Russian Space Goodies outside of the USSR. The Liberty Bell 7 is way cool, and there is a full size V-2 Battery and Control House (with a V-2). When you drive up you know you are there, a full size Redstone is out front, and a 71 Blackbird in the lobby! They built the building around it! We spent all day there. 8)

Okay, now I'm officially drooling... way back in 1996, my wife and I DROVE BY WHITE SANDS! Why didn't I make a right turn, this time guaranteed--although to Kansas!

8) The thing that really got me was the quality of the Soviet workmanship. For some reason I was thinking they were not up to par. Their welding of small parts was a thing of beauty. They have a different way of seeing things, but the workmanship was right on! 8)

I think the best space museum out west is probably the one in Alamogordo, New Mexico... Their website is so bizarre in that it shows very few pix of the "rocket garden". They have a V2, just as it fell over London.. a Nike/Ajax, Little Joe, Nike/Herc, Hawk, and much, much more. That is before you go INSIDE. It is extraorindary.

I was astounded by the sad state of disrepair of the gems at White Sands. They had one of everything - but most were so far gone, it was incredible. Other than the V2, the stuff in Alamogordo was pristine.

I agree with JW that the trip to the Space center in Alamogordo and the Missile park in White Sands were way cool. Also the Atomic Museum. I missed the tour for the Trinity site by 3 days. (Its only one time a year) Plus if you are lucky you will see some stealth fighters flying.

I missed the tour for the Trinity site by 3 days. (Its only one time a year)

Actually, you chances are twice that! It's open two times a year, the first Saturday of April and October. I haven't been there yet and I live practically next door. It seems like I'm always getting ready for a launch or something...

Doug

here is a link to the NM museum of space history http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/