-It was the first word ever spoken on the Moon.
-Home to NASA Johnson Space Center, focal point for U.S. manned space flight program.
-It is considered to have one of the best culinary scenes in the country, with cuisine from around the world. Residents eat out more than residents of any other city (roughly once more per week than the national average), and the average meal is about 4$ less than the national average. It has more than 11,000 restaurants and eating establishments with culinary choices that represent more than 35 countries and American regions, and nearly 600 bars and nightclubs. It is regarded as one of the best restaurant cities in America.
-At 634 square miles, this city could contain the cities of New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami.
-This city is larger then the states of Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
-It has the fourth largest museum district in the country with 18 museums all within walking distance.
-The Children?s Museum is the highest attended youth museum in the country for its size and rated No. 1 in the country by Parents magazine.
-The Menil Collection: Considered one of the most important private collections of the 20th century.
-The Health Museum: Most visited health museum in the country.
-Museum of Fine Arts: The largest art museum in the Southwest United States.
-Rothko Chapel: The only ecumenical center of its kind in the world.
-It has a Theater District second only to New York City with its concentration of seats in one geographic area. Located downtown, the 17-block Theater District is home to eight performing arts organizations with more than 12,000 seats.
It is one of only a few cities in the U.S. with resident professional companies in the four disciplines of the performing arts? ballet, opera, symphony and theater. It has the only opera company to boast a Tony, Emmy, and a Grammy. It is noted by The New York Times as having "...one of the nation's best ballet companies".
-It has the only intact Byzantine frescoes in the Western Hemisphere.
-Howard Hughes was born just outside of the city. He died and was buried in the city.
-It is the fourth most populous city in the USA (trailing only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago), and is the largest in the southern U.S.
-If it were an independent nation, it would rank as the world's 30th largest economy.
-More than 90 languages are spoken throughout the city. More than 60 primary languages other than English are spoken in the homes of HISD students.
-93 countries have consular offices here, the third highest in the nation.
-Home to the largest rodeo in the world, attracting more than 1.8 million visitors each year.
-Boasts more than 40 colleges, universities and institutions of higher education.
-Has the largest medical center in the world, with a local economic impact of $10 billion. More than 52,000 people work within its 50 member institutions (including M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the No. 1 cancer hospital in the country), and it encompass 21 million square feet. Altogether 4.8 million patients visit them each year.
More heart surgeries are performed in the Texas Medical Center than anywhere else in the world.
-The first successful human heart transplant was performed here by Dr. Denton Cooley (1968).
-77030, the Texas Medical Center Zip code, is home to 21,000 physicians, scientists, researchers and other advanced degree professionals in the life sciences at 385 medical offices, the highest concentration in the country.
-Home to the nation's first domed stadium.
-The city's Gross Area Product (GAP) in 2006 was $325.5 billion, slightly larger than Austria's, Poland's or Saudi Arabia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
-When comparing the city's economy to a national economy, only 21 countries, other than the United States, have a gross domestic product exceeding Houston's regional gross area product.
-Home to and more than 5,000 energy related firms, it is considered by many as the Energy Capital of the world.
-The economy has a broad industrial base in the energy, aeronautics, and technology industries: only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters. 23 Fortune 500 companies are headquartered here.
-62 of the world's 100 non-U.S.-based corporations have a presence here.
-The Port ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. It is the eighth largest port in the world. The Port handled 220 million short tons of domestic and foreign cargo in 2010.
-Due to the 52-mile man-made Ship Channel connecting it to the Gulf of Mexico, it is both an inland city and a seaport at the same time.
-It ranks first among U.S. cities where paychecks stretch the furthest, according to Forbes.
-Forbes named it the "Coolest City" in the country in 2012, citing factors such as the strong economy, dynamic arts scene and multiculturalism.
BusinessWeek and Bloomberg also ranked it one of the best cities in the U.S. in 2012 thanks to the local food scene, sports and parks.
-It rates first among the nation?s 10 most populous cities in total acreage of parkland and third behind only San Diego and Dallas in park acreage per capita, according to a study by The Trust for Public Land.
It has 50,632 acres of total park space, with 22.6 acres per 1,000 residents.
In 2012, the American Planning Association named Buffalo Bayou one of the nation's 10 "great public spaces."
-International trade directly or indirectly supports more than one-third of all jobs in the metropolitan area.
-It is the birthplace of nanotechnology (via Rice University).
-It was rated the top shopping city in America by Forbes in 2010.
-Strange but true: It is illegal to sell Limburger cheese on Sundays.
-It is reportedly the most air-conditioned place on the earth. The climate is classified as marine or semi-tropical. The average temperature in the city is a delightful 70 degrees year-round.
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HOUSTON, TEXAS
(I've not fact-checked all of these, but I do know that many of them are true from experience)
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