Tranquillity Park

Tranquillity Park is a park located in Downtown Houston, Texas, between Walker and Rusk Streets, and west of Smith Street, with the United States federal courts building for the Southern District of Texas on one side and Houston City Hall on the other. It takes its name, notably differing in spelling, from the Sea of Tranquility, where man first landed on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969.{{Cite web|url=http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/artinparks/onestepforMankind.html|title = One Step for Mankind}} First opening to visitors in the summer of 1979, Tranquillity Park was officially dedicated on the tenth anniversary of the historic lunar landing. On bronze plaques placed along the main entrance, the first words transmitted by Neil Armstrong from the Moon, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed," are written in 15 languages."Parks And Outdoors – Tranquillity Park," Houston – What to do (Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1996–2007).{{cite web |url=http://www.visithoustontexas.com/visitors/parks_and_outdoors/listing.details.php?category=13683&id=28464 |title=Listing: Tranquillity Park |accessdate=2007-03-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701235209/http://www.visithoustontexas.com/visitors/parks_and_outdoors/listing.details.php?category=13683&id=28464 |archivedate=2007-07-01 }} A replica of one of the footprints left on the Moon by Neil Armstrong is also on display inside the park.

A two-block-long oasis of water and walkways, the mounds and depressions throughout the park are meant to represent the cratered lunar surface, and the park's 32-level Wortham Fountain features towering stainless steel cylinders designed to resemble the Apollo's rocket boosters. Each year, Tranquillity Park hosts many city functions, art shows, and events such as the Children's Festival and the Houston International Festival. The park is also popular with downtown office workers seeking a shady spot to picnic during their lunch hour."Parks And Outdoors – Tranquillity Park," supra. In the northern part of the park, actually a smaller park across the street, there are two memorials, one for each Space Shuttle disaster.

Construction of Tranquillity Park was completed in 1979, implementing the plan of Charles Tapley and Jeffrey Lunow of Charles Tapley Associates.{{cite book|last=Bradley|first=Barrie Scardino|location=Austin|date=2020|publisher=University of Texas Press|page=232|title=Improbable Metropolis: Houston's Architectural and Urban History|isbn=978-1-4773-2019-8}}

• Buzz Aldrin
• Tranquility Base
• Lunar Module Eagle
• Apollo 11 in popular culture

{{Commons category|Tranquility Park}}

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https://www.visithoustontexas.com/listings/tranquility-park/20278/

Category:Parks in Houston

Category:1979 establishments in Texas

Category:Cultural depictions of Neil Armstrong

Category:Apollo 11

Category:Downtown Houston

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