Space Center Houston dazzles with Galaxy Lights.
Space Center Houston unveiled a beautiful interactive light display last weekend, the annual Galaxy Lights show. The center expanded Galaxy Lights this year, including offering open-air and socially distanced experiences.
The installations will be on view every day from 6 to 10 p.m. until Jan. 3, except Nov. 26, Dec. 10, 24 and 25. There will be two overnight events, on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5, during which families can camp out on the grounds.
In the Main Plaza, there are two kinetic light shows where lights move to music, creating colored shapes and patterns.
A 20-foot twinkling tree stands in the Astronaut Gallery, where people can also watch the interactive show “Let There Be Light” to learn the science behind starlight, how batteries power lights, how LED lights work and lighting conditions in the International Space Station.
Holiday décor is on full display at the Zero-G Diner’s patio, where hot cocoa and other festive food and drinks are available for purchase. Inside the diner, enjoy an indoor meteor shower. Between the two, follow a path underneath a 30-foot Space Launch System rocket, complete with occasional showers from snow machines.
A 200-foot LED light tunnel, with more than 250,000 lights synchronized to holiday music, leads to Independence Plaza, where attendees can go inside the historic shuttle carrier aircraft NASA 905 and the shuttle replica Independence. In this section of the center, there are also lit-up models of each planet, laser silhouette sculptures, s’mores pits, a snow-globe photo station and more.
The Lights Around the World display, which surrounds the center’s new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, celebrates 20 years of continuous human habitation on the International Space Station. Six 20-foot aluminum trees represent the Space Station partners: the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and Italy.
The 15-minute film “Holidays in Space” is showing at the Destiny Theater every 30 minutes from 6:15 to 9:45 p.m., with footage and interviews of astronauts celebrating the holidays in space.
The Galaxy Lights experience costs $19.95 for the public and $15.95 for members; children ages 3 and younger get free admission. Buy tickets in advance on the Space Center Houston website.