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Texas

Marine Life and Mission Control: Sea & Sky With Your Grandchild

Program No. 21489RJ
From space travel to sharks, discover all things sea and sky with your grandchild at NASA, an indoor rainforest, an aquarium and around Galveston Island!

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Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone? 800-454-5768
Age 9 - 13
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
DATES
Jun 23 - Jun 28, 2024
Per Adult
1,899
Per Child
1,249
Select
Jun 23 - Jun 28, 2024
1,899
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
1,899
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
2,599
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
Select Date
Jul 7 - Jul 12, 2024
Per Adult
1,899
Per Child
1,249
Select
Jul 7 - Jul 12, 2024
1,899
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
1,899
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
2,599
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
Select Date
Jul 14 - Jul 19, 2024
Per Adult
1,899
Per Child
1,249
Select
Jul 14 - Jul 19, 2024
1,899
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
1,899
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
2,599
/ Adult
1,249
/ Child
Select Date

At a Glance

Do you and your grandchild love the ocean and marine mammals? Have you ever dreamed of flying through space? On an adventure on the Texas Gulf Coast, stir your fascination with both sea and sky. Wave to your favorite aquatic creatures at an aquarium pyramid, and trek through an indoor rainforest to learn about tropical plants and animals like the rare Saki Monkeys. Then head over to NASA to meet a real astronaut or member of Mission Control to find out more about space travel is really like. Go on a ferry ride and try to spot friendly dolphins racing with the boat, find out about sea turtles on a field trip to the beach and more!
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walk and stand for several hours, mostly indoors. All venues visited are air conditioned and have benches and opportunities to sit when needed. Participants should be comfortable walking 1-3 miles over the course of the day.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Visit Space Center Houston and learn about NASA's future explorations to Mars.
  • Go seining in Galveston Bay for a close-up encounter with the marine life that thrives in the area.
  • Visit the giant pyramids of Moody Gardens to meet monkeys, macaws, penguins, seals and more as you stroll through a tropical rainforest and an aquarium.

General Notes

Program is for grandchildren ages 9-13.
Featured Expert
All Experts
Profile Image
Katy Webb
Katy Webb has been living in Texas since 1992 and claims to be a Texan. A science teacher in Elementary and Junior High School, she is always looking for new ways to inspire her students to excel in science — from Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama to pursuing technology grants to improve her classroom. She currently lives in Houston with her husband, Glenn, an engineer who writes software to support the International Space Station robotic arms.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Profile Image of Katy Webb
Katy Webb has been living in Texas since 1992 and claims to be a Texan. A science teacher in Elementary and Junior High School, she is always looking for new ways to inspire her students to excel in science — from Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama to pursuing technology grants to improve her classroom. She currently lives in Houston with her husband, Glenn, an engineer who writes software to support the International Space Station robotic arms.
Profile Image of Andrzej Stewart
Andrzej Matthew Stewart View biography
Andrzej Stewart is a spacecraft operator for a variety of NASA missions. He earned degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and aspires to be a NASA astronaut. In pursuing that, he has served as the flight engineer of HERA C2M2, a two-week asteroid mission simulation at the Johnson Space Center, and as chief engineering officer of HI-SEAS IV, a year-long Mars simulation in Hawaii.
Profile Image of Maureen Nolan-Wilde
Maureen Nolan-Wilde View biography
Maureen Nolan-Wilde is a Galveston area resident who serves the community as a master naturalist and a volunteer with the NOAA sea turtle facility located at Fort Crockett. She is a member of the Galveston Bay Area Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist Organization, which just won first place in the 2017 Gulf Guardian Awards for civic/non-profit organizations. The chapter took a creative approach to a “Confront Plastic Pollution” program to remove plastic trash from local highways and waterways.
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Discovery Channel Sharkopedia: The Complete Guide to Everything Shark
by Discovery Channel
Great book with anything and everything you might want to know about sharks.
America in Space: Nasa's First Fifty Years
by Steven Cidk, Robert Jacobs
The story of America’s space age is told with more than 400 carefully selected images. The story begins in the 1950s with intrepid test pilots venturing ever faster and higher, and opens out into the now-legendary Mercury and Apollo missions of the 1960s that made astronauts into national heroes. The space shuttle era shows us what everyday space travel might look like, while grand vistas of the universe expand our sense of wonder. The large format of the book captures both the human drama and the vast scale of NASA’s projects. America in Space is a photographic record of the greatest adventure of our time.
A Weekend in September
by John Edward Weems
John Edward Weems's account of the Galveston hurricane was written more than two decades ago, when many of the survivors were still living and available for interviews. This book is based on numerous conversations and correspondence with these survivors as well as a careful examination of contemporary documents and news reports.
Walking Historic Galveston-A Guide to its Neighborhoods
by Jan Johnson
A Guide to its Neighborhoods is the city's first practical, comprehensive walking guide of the Islands most concentrated historic areas with interesting anecdotes about the people of their past. Written in a very readable voice, the book is designed for the Everyman who wanders the city streets and wonders about the inside human stories of those who lived, loved, and worked in the unusual buildings that survived them.
Mission Control, This is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon
by Andrew Chaikin
This book recounts space history from the Mercury missions through Apollo 17 and beyond. It is illustrated with stunning full-color paintings by astronaut Alan Bean, who walked on the moon with Pete Conrad on Apollo 12 and has devoted his post-NASA life to creating art.
Galveston: A History of the Island
by Gary Cartwright
Galveston -- a small, flat island off the Texas Gulf coast -- has seen some of the state's most amazing history and fascinating people.
Lafitte the Pirate
by Lyle Saxon
This superbly written account examines Lafitte's fascinating career and frees the truth of the pirate's life from the web of fantastic myths which grew up around him.
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson
Using telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.
Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles
by Kathryn Lasky
Large, clear, informative photos draw readers into this look at attempts to save the endangered Kemp's ridley turtle. Beginning with a 10-year-old boy who finds a nearly dead turtle during his patrol on a Cape Cod beach on a cold November day, Lasky details the efforts of a team of veterinarians, marine biologists, and volunteers to save the life of this turtle and others. The action moves from the New England Aquarium to the Florida Keys to the beaches of Rancho Nuevo, Mexico (with a map to show the way).
Sea Turtles: Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature
by Kay de Silva
Bestselling children’s author Kay de Silva presents “Sea Turtles”. The book uses captivating illustrations and carefully chosen words to teach children about "the old man of the sea”. This series is known as one of the most beautiful on the kindle. The pictures look great even in black and white and are excellent on the full color kindle. The description in the large text beneath is simple enough for early readers or for a parent to guide a child through.





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If you want to attend the live lecture, please do not wait until the last minute to enroll.
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