A Real Blast (off) at Cape Canaveral

After a day’s rest we decided, on Wednesday, December 2nd, that mobility being better for Jay’s back than sitting or lying down, to brave a day at the Kennedy Space Center. We were very impressed with the variety of opportunities offered at the Center and had a wonderful, fun, informative and interesting two-day visit. The admission fee is good for two days as long as you get a stamp on your ticket stub when you exit the first day.

The Center is laid out like a theme park with a “rocket garden” of rockets used in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo manned missions, and unmanned Delta, Juno and Atlas rockets that put into orbit Echo, our first Mylar balloon satellite, and the Pioneer probes which paved our way to the moon.

Some of the rockets in the rocket garden.

We can’t go anywhere that offers movies and get out without seeing them. Therefore, we watched two 3-D IMAX movies, toured an exhibit of Mars exploration rovers, and paid homage to the fallen astronauts at the Space Mirror Memorial. This memorial is unique in that the names of the astronauts are carved completely through the black granite and at night are illuminated from behind by powerful flood lights. It was a sight to behold when we left the park that night.

The Space Mirror Memorial

The astronauts that died in the Apollo I fire on the launch pad.

We toured a Space Shuttle replica and launched into orbit in the Shuttle Launch Simulator. A massive building houses this attraction. After approaching the building entrance via a zig zag ramp, enclosed within a web of steel beams simulating the service arm the astronauts traverse on their way to the shuttle cockpit, we entered a large, high-ceilinged, frigid room with a sweeping wall of video screens the size of the side of a tractor trailer. Blue, white and orange lights flashed on and off casting an otherworldly glow while fog crept around our ankles. On one screen an astronaut described a real-life shuttle launch sequence while others flashed scenes of rocket fireballs and views from every angle of the shuttle during lift off; all in sequence to roaring rumblings from God knows how many speakers scattered throughout the walls. We determined this was to get you stoked for what you would experience in the simulator ride. We exited to a large, slightly warmer hallway where we were guided by parallel lines and recessed lights in the floor positioning us properly for entry through the dozen doors before us to “The Shuttle”. At last we entered the simulator and found that we had only to walk forward down a row of amusement park style seats complete with hard harnesses that clamped over our shoulders like suspenders. Once seated, we discovered our environment was the “bay” of the Shuttle. On the room-sized screen, suspended high before us, astronauts walked us through what we would experience during the launch. The lights were dimmed and the entire bay rocked back to a vertical position. The screen showed us what stage of launch we were in during the entire ride. The rockets fired and the “bay” vibrated, then shook, then shuddered in synchronization to a thunderous crescendo as we incrementally lifted off, and gained speed and altitude. There was the jolt of the boosters falling away, then the silence of slipping through space into orbit. They returned us to an upright position, thanked us for letting them take us on a launch and we departed to the top of a cavernous, round room. We descended 5 stories down a spiral ramp while reading plaques describing all of the manned NASA space missions. Jay wanted to return to space, but the day was waning.

The massive simulator building with the nose of a shuttle replica in the foreground.

The next day we took the bus tour around the grounds. Our coach drove on a road parallel to the gravel path that the crawler uses to transport the Shuttle from the assembly building to the launch pad.

We passed the shuttle assembly building on our tour

The shuttle crawler travels on this gravel road.

Our first stop was a tall observation tower with views of the pad sites. This stop also had a short film and exhibit area containing a large model of the shuttle on the launch pad.

The view of the shuttle launch pad from the observation tower.

A shuttle model in the exhibit area of the observation tower.

Then we were off to the massive building housing the Apollo/Saturn V Center and the highlight of our visit. When visiting a museum we definitely get our money’s worth as we tend to read everything on display. Then we discuss what we’ve read and exchange thoughts and opinions. The bulk of our day was spent in the Apollo/Saturn V Center. The building is immense and the largest section houses an entire Saturn V rocket, its segments lying horizontally on massive stands, while other slightly smaller sections hold a museum of astronaut memorabilia, the Apollo program Mission Control Room and Lunar Landing Show theatre.

The massive Saturn V rocket.

One of 57 cleats, weighing almost 2000 pounds,that make up one of eight belts that pull the crawler transporter.

The Apollo Control Room contains the original consoles used in Houston, TX throughout the Apollo missions. During the rocket launch presentation, the consoles light up and a wall of video screens above them flash views of the rocket launch, and what is happening inside the control room along with recordings of communication between ground crew and astronauts. The museum housed the progression of astronaut space suits, other memorabilia and a capsule from an Apollo mission.

An Apollo capsule in the museum.

One of the highlights of the Center was speaking with an engineer that had worked on the Apollo program. He was a font of knowledge and answered all of our questions; even the one Chris posed “How did they get the lunar rover to the moon?” He told us it was folded up and stored in the base of the lunar module and (some assembly required) took about 30 minutes to set up.

Satisfied we had learned everything we wanted to know about the Apollo program, we continued on our tour to the International Space Station Center where you can walk around and through some of the space station modules. A short trip across a sky walk led to a glass-walled room that overlooked the actual module assembly facility.

A lunar module in the Space Station Center assembly area.

A three-day ticket would have been ideal because we ran out of time before we could tour the Early Space Exploration exhibit much less visit the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame located a few miles away. But it was time to move on and we decided it would be a good place to return to with friends and family.

Chris with a Space Center employee in Astronaut attire.

This granite ball, with a constellation map, rotates by water pressure and is a magnet for kids who want to stop it.

On Friday, December 4th we readied the rig to move to our next destination and stopped by the Wood’s house for a final thank you and goodbyes. As we walked back toward Sonny, Chris noticed something sticking out of the top of the trailer. Upon inspection we discovered it to be a piece of a tree branch, about 2” in diameter and at least 6” long that had pierced the roof and underlying ceiling inside a bedroom closet in the RV. Where we had been in the storage lot for the last week didn’t have a tree within 100 feet of us and we determined it had to have happened at the heavily treed RV Park in Savannah during one of the violent rain storms we encountered. Not having the time or means to repair it we continued on to our next destination at Lake Okeechobee where Jay, being the consummate handyman, effected a temporary repair with the item that, for decades, has held his and millions of other peoples stuff together - duct tape!!