Space Age Adventures

Mike Bezemek is the author and photographer of three books that combine stories with trip guides, including Paddling the John Wesley Powell Route: Exploring the Green and Colorado Rivers and Discovering the Outlaw Trail: Routes, Hideouts, and Stories from the Wild West. He has written for a variety of publications, including Outside, Men’s Journal, National Parks Magazine, Adventure Cyclist, Blue Ridge Outdoors, Duct Tape Diaries, and Terrain Magazine. Visit his website at mikebezemek.com.

“Part travel guidebook and part history lesson, anyone with even a passing interest in space will appreciate this resource. Mike Bezemek has created a long-needed and well-organized reference for planning trips to space-themed destinations in the United States. I had no idea all these places existed and appreciate how the included stories reference artifacts or displays that can be visited in person. Well done!”-Jay Gallentine, author of Infinity Beckoned: Adventuring through the Inner Solar System, 1969–1989 “Mike Bezemek shows that the next best thing to a flight into space is visiting the many places on Earth related to space exploration. In addition to sharing the exciting stories behind the museum artifacts, Space Age Adventures takes readers to launch sites, astronomical observatories, and space museums around the United States. His work has provided me with lots of new ideas for space places to visit in the years to come.”-Chris Gainor, author of To a Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers

• Preface: Spaces Sites and StoriesBecoming a Space Age AdventurerUsing This Book and Must-See Sites1. The First Rockets2. Birth of the Space Rocket3. The V-2 Sites in Washington DC and Virginia Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DCSmithsonian Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly VANASA Goddard Visitor Center, Greenbelt MDNASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center, Wallops Island VAVirginia Air and Space Science Center, Hampton VA 4. The Cold War5. Conquering Space6. The Satellites Sites in New York City and the Northeast Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York NYAmerican Museum of Natural History, New York NYCradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City NYMcAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, Concord NHMoonshot Museum, Pittsburgh PACarnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh PA 7. The Space Race8. Mercury vs. Vostok9. In the Thick of It Sites Near Cape Canaveral, Florida Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island FLSands Space History Center, Cape Canaveral FLAmerican Space Museum, Titusville FL 10. The Rise of Apollo11. Adventures and Lessons12. A Focus on the Moon Sites in the South and on the Gulf Coast Museum of Life and Science, Durham NCTellus Science Museum, Cartersville GAU.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville ALNational Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola FLInfinity Science Center and NASA Stennis Visitor Center, Pearlington MSSpace Center Houston, Houston TXFrontiers of Flight Museum, Dallas TXSpaceX Starbase Launch Viewing, South Padre Island TX 13. Bold Steps and Tragic Setbacks14. Closing In15. Around the Moon Sites in the Midwest Great Lakes Science Center and NASA Glenn Visitor Center, Cleveland OHInternational Women’s Air and Space Museum, Cleveland OHNational Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton OHArmstrong Air & Space Museum, Wapakoneta OHGrissom Memorial at Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell INAir Zoo Aerospace & Science Experience, Kalamazoo MIMuseum of Science and Industry, Chicago ILAdler Planetarium, Chicago ILSt. Louis Science Center, St. Louis MO 16. 196917. They Came from Outer Space18. The Landings Continue Sites in the Great Plains Stafford Air and Space Museum, Weatherford OKScience Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City OKCosmosphere Space Museum, Hutchison KSStrategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum, Ashland NESouth Dakota Air and Space Museum, Box Elder SD 19. The End of the Space Race20. Aiming for the Stars21. The Soviets Regroup Sites in the Southwest New Mexico Museum of Space History, Alamogordo NMWhite Sands Missile Range Museum and Missile Park, White Sands NMSpaceport America, Truth or Consequences NMRoswell Museum and International UFO Museum & Research Center, Roswell NM 000Very Large Array, Socorro NMNew Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque NMNational Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque NMSpace Foundation Discovery Center, Colorado Springs COWings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, Denver COSpace and Science Fiction Sites, Southern UtahMeteor Crater, Winslow AZLowell Observatory, Flagstaff AZAstronaut Training Sites, Northern ArizonaPima Air and Space Museum, Tucson AZTitan Missile Museum, Green Valley AZNational Atomic Testing Museum and Nevada National Security Site, Las Vegas NV000Extraterrestrial Highway, Highway 375 NV 22. Adventures in Orbit23. Destination Deep Space24. The Billionaires’ Space Race Sites on the West Coast San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego CACalifornia Science Center, Los Angeles CAGriffith Observatory, Los Angeles CAMore Space Sites, Southern CaliforniaScience Fiction Film Sites, CaliforniaChabot Space and Science Center, Oakland CAUSS Hornet Sea, Air, and Space Museum, Alameda CAAerospace Museum of California, Sacramento CAEvergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville ORMuseum of Flight, Seattle WA Appendix of ResourcesBibliography