HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It was a day that changed Houston forever. Houston was named by NASA as the location for the Manned Space Center, and to mark the occasion city officials held a parade on the 4th of July, 1962.
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Crowds lined Main Street, as the seven Project Mercury astronauts appeared together for the first time in Houston.
The parade was followed by a "Texas-style" barbecue for MSC employees at the Sam Houston Coliseum, where all the astronauts were given cowboy hats.