We got up and had breakfast to arrive at the Kennedy Space Centerfor the opening at 10am (which was actually 9am). We paid $10 for parking and headed into the Visitor Center.
They had kiosks at the front to buy tickets as well as a manned desk to answer questions and purchase tickets. We used the kiosk which was fast and convenient and no lines unlike the manned desks. We picked a good day to go as there were not a lot of people around. It was colder than we expected and we donned our jeans and sweatshirts and started a new adventure to EXPLORE!
Inside the information center they had computers setup so you could schedule your day. There were extra events that costed money; lunch with an astronaut, astronaut training programs, and behind the scenes at KSC, we did not do any of these but the option was nice.
We started with the Astronaut Encounter and met John Blaha, who has logged 161 days in space on 5 space missions. It was a very informative 40 minutes with an accompanying video of space footage.
Then on to the Rocket Garden where there was a 15 minute live tour explaining the rockets that have made history.
"From the very first unmanned missions to see if we could safely launch a rocket into space, to the earliest of the Apollo missions that would one day travel to the moon, America's history in space is laid out before your very eyes in the Majestic Rocket Garden." ~taken from website.
We had a very friendly guide who was knowledgeable about all the rockets.
Some of the rockets.
Replica of one of the one man seated capsules from Mercury.
It was a gorgeous day! The sky was blue, not a cloud in the sky and the air was crisp.
We then wandered over to the Education Center where there was a conference going on for high school aged students. There was a poem on the wall that I really enjoyed.
A Message to Future Generations
If I can impress upon you only one idea . . . Let it be that the people who make this world run, whose lives can be termed successful, whose names will go down in the history books, are not the cynics, the critics, or the armchair quarterbacks.
They are the adventurists, the explorers, and doers of this world. When they see a wrong or problem, they do something about it. When they see a vacant place in our knowledge, they work to fill that void.
Rather than leaning back and criticizing how things are, they work to make things the way they should be. They are the aggressive, the self-starters, the innovative, and the imaginative of this world.
Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds . . . to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.
Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but by what your mind can imagine. Many things that you take for granted were considered unrealistic dreams by previous generations. If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace then think of the new horizons that you can explore.
From your vantage point, your education and imagination will carry you to places which we won’t believe possible. Make your life count – and the world will be a better place because you tried.
We then proceeded to the IMAX 3D theater to watch the Journey to Space. Again very informative.
We checked out the Journey to Mars and played a few simulations on landing on Mars and docking the shuttle to the International Space Station.
We hopped onto a bus and toured the facility which is the only way for a civilian to see it.
There is a large building that can be seen from everywhere.
This is the device used to move the pieces into place for a launch.
There were 2 theaters at the Apollo/Saturn V Center the presentations gave me goose bumps they were so well done. We entered the first one entitled the Firing Room which was the original command center for the Apollo 11 launch to the moon.
The second one, The Lunar Theater , was the actual landing on the moon, July 20, 1969.
Mike and I learned a great deal from this video. We learned that the landing was almost aborted as communication to Houston was interrupted several times, the 1201 and 1202 program alarms, the speed of the capsule was too fast and landing was going to be off course. Fortunately Armstrong actually took over the controls manually to land in a safe location. This was all fascinating to us Also Armstrong commented that this was a lot harder than the simulations before the announcement, "Houston, Tranquility Base here...the Eagle has landed."
There were several exhibits as well.The suit of Alan Shepard, the first American to travel into space, was on display.
A satellite
We returned to the visitors center after touching a piece of the moon and went to the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit. After the movie the screen rose and behind it was the Atlantis.
It is too big to capture a full image.
It is also amazing to think that astronauts can simply float in outer space and make it back to their shuttle.
The night ended with the anticipation of the Spacex Falcon 9 SES-9 rocket carrying a communication satellite that will provide mobile communication to Indonesia, Philippines, South Asia and Northeast Asia. The scheduled launch was 6:46 pm. The original date was the night before but they needed to cool the nitro to some ridiculously low number -300 and something Mike and I were thrilled it did not go off as planned so we could witness a live launch NASA provided a commentator for the event that was very knowledgeable about the Spacex program.
We were expecting to see the rocket to the right of the tall trees and to the left of the flag.
At 6:35 pm the launch was rescheduled by a minute 6:47. We held our breathes. 1:40 before the launch the mission was aborted. We were terribly disappointed but understand the importance of the mission and the one shot at getting it right.
They have not rescheduled at this time. I guess a launch is not in our foreseeable fortune.
Off to Savannah for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment