Space Coast

Monday, March 11, 2019
We are spending the day at the Kennedy Space Center and fortunately our warm showers host has offered to let us drive his jeep.   The bridge across to Merritt Island is not one we want to ride our bikes over.

One of the many rockets in the rocket garden

From the exhibit dedicated to the Apollo missions

We boarded the space center bus and it took us to the two launch pads and the enormous vehicle assembly building.  The launchpad from which the shuttle missions launched is now being used by SpaceX.  They plan to launch a manned mission in the summer.  It will be the first manned mission since the shuttles stopped flying. 
The bus tour ends at the Apollo/Saturn V Center.  This building is dedicated to the Apollo missions and has some moon rocks, space suits, and a multimedia presentation which allows visitors to winess the liftoff of Apollo 8.  The actual control center from mission control sits beneath a huge movie screen and it is really easy to feel like you are actually experiencing the tense moments and then the joy of a successful liftoff.  I remember watching on TV when I was in elementry school and praying for the astronauts.

Apollo Capsule

Next Stop:  Shuttle Exhibits

Atlantis flew quite a few miles before landing at the space center

The shuttle missions flew for 26 years and spent  total of 307 days in space.  There is a lot to read in this building and the shuttle itself looks well worn.  It is missing ceramic  heat tiles on its skin and is not the shiny white that it once was.  The last mission flew in July, 2011.  

There is a full scale model of the Hubble, but the photo I took doesn't look like anything.  There were also some amazing photos of the astronauts fixing the Hubble on a couple of missions.  

We will need to return to the space coast on a future trip in order to see the rest of the Space Center - There is too much to see in one day!

  Boeing is building this for a future trip to Mars---