• Houston Texas Holiday Ornament, Mission Control Headset, Crystal Glass Ornament Hanging on a Christmas Tree
  • Houston Texas Holiday Ornament, Mission Control Headset, Crystal Glass Ornament Hanging on White
  • Houston Texas Holiday Ornament, Mission Control Headset, Crystal Glass Ornament in Gold Gift Box
  • Houston Texas Holiday Ornament, Mission Control Headset, Crystal Glass Ornament in White Gift Box
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Houston Texas Holiday Ornament - Mission Control Headset

Houston Texas Holiday Ornament - Mission Control Headset

$28.00 USD
$28.00 USD
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A 1960s mission-control headset resting on a console of dials and toggles, one red lamp lit. The first word spoken from the moon was this city's name.

On July 20, 1969, the first thing said from the surface of the moon was Houston. The room that answered was a plain hall of green consoles, rotary dials, ashtrays and headsets, and the flight controllers in it were mostly in their twenties. The room has been restored to the minute, down to the coffee cups, and you can stand at the glass and look at it.

The headset is the detail people remember: a single earpiece, a thin boom mic, a cord to a console. Everything that happened in that room happened through it.

Space City has rockets everywhere. The headset is the quiet version, for the people who know that the voice on the other end of the moon was a kid at a console in Houston.

Houston, we have a problem: the most famous words said to Mission Control. Houston is Space City because of Apollo Mission Control, the room that guided Apollo 11. This space ornament is a Houston Christmas ornament and Houston souvenir, a piece of Houston history for anyone who has worn the mission control headset in a dream.

Every Houston ornament ships ready to give. Hang it on the tree, in a window, off a lamp, or send one to the person who misses Houston most.

3-inch faceted crystal glass ornament, white-backed print, line-drawn in 1880s engraving style, your choice of white or gold gift box.


QUICK FACTS — HOUSTON TX CRYSTAL ORNAMENT — MISSION CONTROL HEADSET

Town: Houston, Texas

Founded: 1836

Known for: Space City and Mission Control; the Houston Ship Channel (1914); the world’s largest rodeo; capital of the Republic of Texas 1837–39

Art: Mission Control Headset, original Merlin Classics engraving

Blank: 3-inch (76 mm) round clear crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge

Print: white-backed for contrast; red ribbon hanger

Packaging: white or gold gift box, chosen at checkout

Made to order in the USA



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Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

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The food culture is its own argument. Kolache bakeries — a Czech-Texan tradition brought by Central European settlers in the 1800s — anchor strip-mall breakfasts across the metro. Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish, born on the southwest side in the 1980s when Vietnamese immigrants combined Gulf Coast seafood traditions with Cajun spices, became a Houston original. Tex-mex, breakfast tacos, queso: the Gulf Coast table is its own cuisine. The city’s international diversity — the most diverse large city in America by several measures — drives a food scene that can hold Viet-Cajun crawfish and Texas BBQ brisket and klobasnek pastries in the same zip code without anyone finding it unusual.

What’s with the Eighteen Minutes? On April 21, 1836, the entire Texas Revolution came down to eighteen minutes. General Sam Houston’s Texian army — charging to cries of “Remember the Alamo!” — caught Santa Anna’s force at siesta on the plain of San Jacinto and routed it completely. Texas was free. Fought on the bayou prairie twenty-two miles east of today’s downtown, the battle created a republic in less time than a coffee break — and it gave the city that rose beside the battleground its name, its founding year, and its permanent taste for moving fast.

Why People Visit Houston Texas

Houston offers space heritage, Texas Revolution history, world-class museums, bayou parks, and one of the most diverse food scenes in the country. Visitors come for Mission Control and the San Jacinto battleground, the museum district and the bayou trails, the rodeo in March, and the simple scale of a city that runs from downtown skyline to ship channel to Gulf Coast. It is sprawling, layered, and unlike anywhere else in America.

Houston Texas Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring longhorn and Lone Star motif