Outside Houston Is NASA's Walkable Texas Space Center Where Visitors Can See Spaceships And Science Labs Up Close

Houston, we have a destination. The phrase might bring to mind Apollo 13's famous distress call, but these days it could just as easily describe the city's growing appeal to travelers seeking something special. Houston is home to world-class museums and an art district that rivals anything New York has with better prices, but space geeks will be tickled to know that NASA's Johnson Space Center occupies 1,620 acres in Clear Lake, only about 30 minutes from downtown.

The Johnson Space Center operates as NASA's nerve center for human spaceflight while simultaneously opening its doors to curious earthbound visitors. Since 1961, this complex has orchestrated every major American space mission, from the Apollo moon landings through today's International Space Station operations. The best — and perhaps most baffling — part of all is that most of it happens right in front of visitors, who can watch astronauts train for upcoming missions while touring the same facilities where space history continues to unfold.

According to research, Europeans increasingly see Houston as a popular American vacation destination, and are particularly drawn to this space center that delivers something no museum can replicate. Here, you can see an actual spacecraft that has been to the moon, peek into laboratories where engineers are currently plotting routes to Mars, and stand in the very rooms where mission control guided humanity's most audacious explorations. No special clearance needed!

The layout of the Johnson Space Center is genius in itself, and how it presents space exploration as an ongoing adventure you can walk through. Independence Plaza is perhaps the most jaw-dropping example of this approach. Here stands a full-scale space shuttle replica mounted directly on top of an authentic NASA aircraft that once ferried shuttles across the country. You can climb inside both vehicles, wandering through the shuttle's crew compartments while marveling at the engineering marvel that is the massive Boeing 747 beneath it. This is the only exhibit of its kind anywhere in the world where visitors can explore both aircrafts.

Meanwhile, the Starship Gallery houses an impressive collection of spacecraft narrating American space exploration. These aren't replicas or models — each one has flown in space and returned to be witnessed by your eyes in that very moment. There's even a Spacesuit Collection spanning decades of space exploration, including astronaut John Young's ejection suit on the very first shuttle mission in 1981.

If you're more interested in NASA's current projects, then head on over to the International Space Station Gallery, which provides a window into life aboard humanity's orbital laboratory. Interactive presentations reveal how astronauts live and work in zero gravity, while space station artifacts demonstrate the ingenuity required for long-duration spaceflight. There's even the Artemis Exhibit that goes into NASA's ambitious plans to return humans to the moon, with Mission Mars taking this even further by exploring what exactly it takes to reach the red planet in the coming decades.

With so much to see and do, it's still worth making time for The Moonwalkers experience, included in the general admission fee. Co-written by Tom Hanks, he narrates an immersive journey through humanity's lunar missions in the renovated Space Center Theater. The presentation combines original NASA footage with newly remastered Apollo photographs — images that reveal details lost for half a century — plus newly filmed interviews between Hanks and current Artemis program astronauts who are preparing for our return to the moon. The theater's enhanced viewing experience makes those iconic moon landing moments feel startlingly immediate.

Once you've left the theater, the other "must" is hopping aboard one of the tram tours. These trolleys cut through the sprawling Johnson Space Center campus, giving visitors direct access to behind-the-scenes areas you can't simply walk to. Depending on the route, you might pass astronaut training facilities, peek inside research labs, or stop at Rocket Park, where a towering Saturn V stretches the length of a football field. Each line offers its own focus, so it's worth planning which version you want ahead of time rather than treating them as interchangeable.

Tickets cover a lot, but it's worth booking them online in advance to save $5 off admission. It's a small detail worth noting, since museum-going in the U.S. can quickly add up — especially if you're also visiting America's other best science museums.