New Mexico Museum of Space History

A museum and planetarium complex on the eastern slope of Alamogordo, dedicated to the history of spaceflight and the Space Age. The building overlooks the Tularosa Basin and White Sands to the west — a view that puts the New Mexico space connection in context, since this region was central to the development of American rocketry.

The exhibits cover early rocketry, the Mercury and Apollo programmes, and the Space Shuttle era, with hardware including an actual spacecraft on display. The International Space Hall of Fame occupies the upper floors. The planetarium shows run on a schedule. Allow two hours. The drive up to the museum on the hill is worthwhile for the views alone.

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The International Space Hall of Fame is housed here, inducting astronauts, scientists, and engineers annually. Ham the chimp — the first American primate in space, launched from White Sands in 1961 — is buried in the garden outside the museum. His flight preceded John Glenn's orbital mission by less than a year.