October 18, 2017
White Sands National Monument
NM Museum of Space History
White Sands Missile Range Museum
Alamogordo, NM

Today was sightseeing day. We wanted to hit these 3 sights and lucky for us they were all in the same direction. We left the park at 9am and headed northeast out US Hwy 70. We stopped first at White Sands Missile Range which was 33 miles away, but unfortunately when we got there the Base was in a lock down condition and nobody was going to get in, or out. So we kept going another 30 miles out US 70 to White Sands National Monument.

Visitors Center....

The sand is created from gypsum which makes it very white....

the white sand gives you a feeling of being in snow...

After the White Sands National Monument we drove another 20 miles to the New Mexico Space History Museum. This museum is located in the town of Alamogordo.

The museum sits up on the side of the mountains to the east and looks out towards White Sands Monument. This picture shows the white sand dunes in the distance.

The museum is inside a beautiful building....

There are lots of exhibits and hands on displays. Here is Marilyn flying (crashing) the Shuttle while making a landing...

Beam me up Scotty.....

We had a lot of fun but when you've seen Cape Canaveral and Johnson Space Center, we're spoiled. However, if you're in the area it's a nice place to visit.

After the Space Museum we headed back to White Sands Missile Range to see if the lock down was over. Lucky for us it was. We gave our IDs to the guard and he did a quick background check before letting us walk in to the missile museum.

White Sands is an active Army Base so security is tight.

There are two buildings with exhibits and an outdoor area with all the missile displays.

The main museum building...

This display seemed a little out of place. I believe it shows the local animals and predators...

The V-2 Rocket...

Many of the outdoor pictures did not turn out well because I had to take them into the sunlight. For security purposes I was only allowed to take pictures towards the mountains and away from the base.

This was a really cool museum, especially if your into rockets and of course all the history of this area and coming on to an active base made it a special experience for us.