ASTC Passport museums within a day trip
ASTC Passport gives members of participating science and natural-history museums reciprocal admission at museums around the country. Each museum sets its own guest limits, and ASTC’s 90-mile exclusion generally applies based on both your home museum and your residence. Because policies can change, confirm current reciprocal admission rules before making a special trip.
This list is written for a Bryan–College Station family holding a Mayborn Museum (Waco) membership. Drive times are from College Station on an ordinary day; add for Houston and Austin traffic.
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- Every museum below is on ASTC’s May–October 2026 participant list. The program is described on the ASTC Travel Passport page.
- Not every Mayborn level travels. The list names Individual, Museum For All (EBT), Family Plus, Family Plus + LLL and the Director Circle levels as reciprocal; a plain Family membership is not on it.
- ASTC’s baseline is 2 adults + 4 children on a group membership. Where a museum publishes a tighter limit it is listed on its card; that figure comes from the museum’s own policy, not the ASTC list, which does not record per-museum limits. Where no tighter limit is published, the baseline applies.
- Reciprocal admission is general admission only. Special exhibits, planetarium and large-screen theater shows (including Fort Worth’s Omni Theater), tours, special events, and parking are not included.
- Bring the membership card and a photo ID. Most of these museums are flagged as requiring proof of residence, and none is obliged to admit a visitor without the card.
- Call before the trip — ASTC’s own checklist says so — and check hours; several close on Mondays.
Every museum in this guide, with home for scale.
Waco — the home museum
Mayborn Museum Complex
Baylor’s natural and cultural history museum, and the membership this guide is built on. Texas natural history and archaeology galleries, a children’s discovery center of themed hands-on rooms, and the historic village of nineteenth-century buildings out back. Pairs with the Waco Mammoth National Monument a few miles up the river.
Home museum: your Mayborn membership admits directly; reciprocal limits do not apply here.
Houston
Space Center Houston
NASA’s visitor center: real spacecraft, the shuttle carrier aircraft you can walk through, a tram tour into Johnson Space Center, and a large hall of hands-on space exhibits. A full day for space-minded kids.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: 2 adults + 2 children.
Children’s Museum Houston
A large, hands-on children’s museum built around play, STEM, creativity, and exploration — a kid-sized city, a multi-storey climbing structure, water play, and invention workshops. Best for toddlers through about age ten.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: no tighter limit published; ASTC baseline.
The Health Museum
Anatomy and the human body at kid scale: a walk-through body with giant organs, medical science and biomedical exhibits, and a DNA lab. Smaller than its neighbours in the Museum District, so it pairs well with a second stop.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: up to 6 household members.
San Antonio
Witte Museum
Natural history and science with a strong Texas thread: dinosaur skeletons, Texas wildlife, the people and land of South Texas, and family-oriented galleries throughout. Sits on Brackenridge Park, with the DoSeum a short drive down Broadway.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: 2 adults + 4 children.
The DoSeum
A hands-on children’s museum for STEM, engineering, creativity, problem-solving, and play — building zones, a spy academy, a little town, and outdoor play areas. Strongest for preschool through elementary.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: no tighter limit published; ASTC baseline.
Dallas–Fort Worth
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Five floors of interactive science: dinosaurs and paleontology, Earth science, space, engineering, physics, and biology, plus a children’s museum on the lower level for the youngest. Easily a full day.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: 2 adults + 3 children.
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Science, dinosaurs, Texas history, and space, with the Noble Planetarium and an Omni Theater on site. In the Cultural District, next door to the Cowgirl Museum and a short walk from the art museums.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: 2 adults + 2 children.
East Texas and the coast
Discovery Science Place
A smaller, hands-on children’s science museum: interactive exhibits, experiments, and room to touch everything. A half-day stop rather than a destination on its own.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: no tighter limit published; ASTC baseline.
Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
Science and paleontology, geology, maritime archaeology from the shipwrecks off the coast, and the local history of the Coastal Bend and Texas. On the bayfront near the aquarium and the USS Lexington, which makes it part of a beach weekend rather than a day trip.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: no tighter limit published; ASTC baseline.
Austin
Thinkery
A hands-on children’s STEAM museum: science, art, building, imaginative play, and an outdoor area. Sits in the Mueller development with a park and playground next door.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: 4 people.
Texas Science & Natural History Museum
The University of Texas natural-history museum: Texas fossils and dinosaurs, geology and gems, wildlife, and the state’s ecosystems. Quieter and more traditional than Thinkery; good for older kids who read the labels.
ASTC reciprocal agreement: no tighter limit published; ASTC baseline.