The Bullock Texas State History Museum’s three floors of Texas History Galleries showcase hundreds of original artifacts and provide visitors with an ever-changing experience, with new stories added to the galleries each month. The Museum’s third floor Texas History Gallery explores Texas history in the 20th century, including an immersive STEM learning section that highlights the state’s leading role in scientific discoveries, medical advancements, technological innovations, and space exploration.
“Houston… the Eagle has landed.”
Texas has been at the forefront of space exploration since the 1930s as the home of the McDonald Observatory, Rice University’s Department of Space Science, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, and SpaceX’s Rocket Development and Test Facility.
Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson was Vice President when President John F. Kennedy gave his famous moon shot speech at Rice University, and his influence led to Houston becoming the home of NASA’s Mission Control. Bullock Museum visitors can relive the historic moment when millions of people around the world watched Neil Armstrong’s first steps and words from the lunar surface in July 1969 with an immersive astronaut scene and a special news broadcast with Walter Cronkite. The gallery also features a moon rock, 1960s mission control console from the Johnson Space Center, and an Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU) from NASA.
Pioneers in STEM
In addition to space exploration, Texas has also led the way in critical advances in technology, engineering and medicine. Texan scientists, researchers, and physicians have pioneered the fields of heart surgery, burn treatment, cancer research, and more. Items currently on view at the Bullock Museum include a Selective Laser Sintering Machine, commonly called a 3D printer, developed by Carl Deckard and Dr. Joe Beaman at the University of Texas at Austin in the 1980s. Visitors will also discover an integrated circuit developed by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments in 1958. This invention is recognized as the beginning of the information age and makes all of our modern computers and smartphones possible.
More to explore
STEM topics are woven throughout the Museum. In the Bullock Museum’s first floor Becoming Texas gallery, visitors can learn about the technology used in ships, as well as the innovative weapons, jewelry and tools developed by early American Indian civilizations. Visitors can also explore the science of transportation and agriculture, and the technology of ranching from the early days of Spanish settlement to the present. And between now and October 3, visitors can discover the science of sound in the special exhibition GUITAR: The Instrument that Rocked the World.
Plan your visit and learn more about the Bullock Museum’s exhibition galleries, school trip opportunities, films, and upcoming programs at TheStoryOfTexas.com.
This segment is paid for by The Bullock Texas State History Museum and is intended as an advertisement. Opinions expressed by the guest(s) on this program are solely those of the guest(s) and are not endorsed by this television station.
