Space

Long Islands aviation and space museum on the old Mitchel Field, with more than seventy aircraft and spacecraft including a genuine Apollo Lunar Module built on Long Island by Grumman. Kids climb into cockpits, work flight simulators and walk under fighters hung from the ceiling. A dome theater runs space and nature films. The Junior Jet Club area is aimed at the under-sixes with soft play and toy planes. Combine it with the childrens museum next door for a full indoor day.

A big hangar at Dallas Love Field packed with more than thirty aircraft and spacecraft that kids can walk right up to. The Apollo 7 command module is the headline piece and it still stops adults in their tracks. Cockpit sections you can climb into, flight simulators, and a dedicated childrens area with building toys keep younger kids busy while the plane-obsessed ones read every placard. Because it sits at the edge of an active airport you can watch real jets take off from the parking lot. Two hours is about right unless you have a serious aviation kid.

The visitor center for NASA Johnson Space Center and the closest most kids will get to standing inside the real thing. A tram tour runs out to historic Mission Control and the astronaut training facility where hardware for current missions is actually being worked on. Independence Plaza lets you walk through a shuttle replica mounted on a genuine 747 carrier aircraft. Indoors there are moon rocks you can touch, a Saturn V rocket hall, and Apollo capsules. Book the tram early because slots fill and the queue is the one part that will test kids patience.