Choosin' Texas! Houston could soon rival New York for visitors - as Space City unveils £3.7million restoration of Nasa's original Mission Control

Behind an unmarked door in a crumbling building south of Houston sits one of the most famous rooms on Earth. Simply standing here, in Nasa’s original Mission Control, feels faintly ridiculous, like strolling into the Oval Office or the Situation Room in Washington DC.These four walls witnessed the highs and the lows of the space race – from the tragedy of Apollo 1 in 1967 to the glory of Apollo 11’s Moon landing in 1969. Now, after a sensitive £3.7million restoration, it is a great time to visit.Amid historically accurate RC Cola cans, rotary dials and blinking consoles, you can positively sense the chain-smoking ghosts of Apollo 13’s support team, speaking calmly into headsets while responding to history’s most infamous interstellar transmission: ‘Ah, Houston, we’ve had a problem...’ There’s an old Texas joke about this state’s three main cities: Austin has the music, Dallas has the TV show – and Houston has the problem. It’s a cosmic caricature which the latter has, nevertheless, leaned into from its sports teams – including the Astros and Rockets – to its official nickname of Space City.Yet there’s much more to Houston than old Apollo missions. For these days, the city is probably America’s most exciting.For a start, there’s the rapid growth rate. Houston is set to outstrip Chicago’s population and become America’s third biggest city within a decade – behind New York and Los Angeles. Houston, we have a holiday! The Texan state capital is ever more appealing for visitors thanks to lively nightlife, great museums and some serious historyHouston is set to outstrip Chicago’s population and become America’s third biggest city within a decade The city is set to outstrip Chicago’s population and become America’s third biggest city within the next ten years Space City: The history-making Apollo Mission Control Room at NASA's Johnson Space CentreAnd this frenzy of expansion is creating a buzz that expresses itself perhaps most tangibly in lively nightlife and a booming foodie scene, with 13,000-plus restaurants serving cuisine from 70-plus countries.When The Michelin Guide arrived in Texas in 2024, it was noted that while Dallas was awarded a solitary star, six were showered on Houston’s restaurants.These included Tatemo – an extraordinary Mexican eatery concealed behind an unmarked mall door – and BCN Taste & Tradition, a grand Mediterranean establishment in a converted 1920s mansion.Controversially, the Michelin nod was also given to a small family-run smokehouse in Houston’s northern suburbs, CorkScrew BBQ.Here the meat melts off tomahawk-sized ribs, the brisket is buttery and peppery in perfect proportion while the spicy, juicy pulled pork is alone worth the 25-minute Uber ride from downtown.Meanwhile, away from all the Michelin plaudits, Montrose is a walkable boho-chic neighbourhood on the western flank of Midtown. You will find cosy bistros – such as Leighton’s, The Sunrise House and Postino – all within strolling distance of the extraordinary Menil Collection, a 30-acre campus of free art.Then there’s Hotel Saint Augustine, a sleek, boutique property that opened last year, raising local hotel standards to new heights with its first-rate restaurant.Tucking in: Jonathan visited a small family-run smokehouse in Houston's northern suburbs, CorkScrew BBQ, and found himself face-to-face with some Texan specialities The Montrose Paint Wall, a public mural, lies just west of Midtown, in an area that's increasingly where the cool kids gravitate toSouth of Montrose is the Museum District where you will find no fewer than 21 world-class institutions, headlined by the heavyweight Contemporary Arts Museum and Museum of Fine Arts.Greater Houston, covering nearly 10,000 square miles, is bigger than New Jersey. But despite its forest of skyscrapers, Space City is also surprisingly grounded, with hundreds of parks, gardens and nature reserves creeping into its urban boundaries.There is, however, no denying its biggest attraction. At Space Center Houston you can nerd out over the world’s largest collection of astronaut suits and Moon rocks, as well as walk through a replica space shuttle and learn more about Artemis, the Nasa mission to get boots on Mars that will be directed from Houston.Best of all, of course, is the historic Mission Control, housed in Building 30 at the working Nasa Johnson Space Center. It’s hard to overemphasise how good the restoration job has been here, from the maps and matrices on the monitors to the Winston cigarette butts in the ash trays.Of course, Nasa and its ongoing mission to conquer the heavens frequently overshadows Houston itself. But look more closely and you will find one of America’s most underrated cities. It’s fitting that mankind’s mission to Mars will be masterminded from here, because Houston looks very much like a city of the future.