Houston is probably the city you most associate with NASA, but it’s actually Huntsville that’s home to many of the brains that put man on the moon. Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket scientists transformed Huntsville into a technology center. Today, it’s home to the second largest research park in the United States and to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. It is here they developed the rockets that put the first U.S. satellite into orbit and sent men to the moon. You can learn all about this and much more at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, a permanent exhibition to showcase the hardware of the space program.

On my visit, I had the great pleasure of experiencing Space Camp. No, it’s not just for kids! (But mostly, yes, it is for 7-18-year-olds.) Founded in 1982, this experience cultivates teamwork, leadership and decision-making skills through simulated missions. It’s a lot more serious than the camps I attended as a kid, but so interesting to get a taste of what it takes to be an astronaut. Fun fact: eight attendees of Space Camp ended up working as astronauts!