Space Center Houston

The official visitor center of the Johnson Space Center sits 25 miles south of downtown Houston and displays more than 400 space artifacts, including the Apollo 17 command module, lunar samples returned to Earth, and the Independence Plaza featuring the Shuttle Independence mounted atop Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft NASA 905. The Mission Control Center tour takes you to the actual room where flight controllers monitored Apollo 11's moon landing, Apollo 13's crisis, and decades of Space Shuttle missions. Annual visitors exceed 1.2 million, with the complex expanded in 2019 to include the Starship Gallery displaying the largest collection of lunar samples visible to the public outside of NASA's vaults.

NRG Stadium

NRG Stadium will host seven 2026 FIFA World Cup matches including a quarterfinal at the 72,220-seat retractable-roof venue that opened in 2002, and shares the NRG Park complex with the iconic 1965 Astrodome, the world's first multi-purpose domed stadium. The Astrodome, while currently closed to the public, remains a cultural landmark remembered for hosting the 1968 Houston Oilers, the original Astros, and Elvis Presley's 1970 concert. NRG Stadium also hosts the Texans and the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo drawing 2.5 million attendees each March.