Dec 3
Dec 4
Dec 5
Dec 6
Dec 7
We slept in a bit then had breakfast at the hotel again. For a change, we didn’t read a newspaper during breakfast. They’ve removed the newspaper machines from in front of the restaurant and USA Today doesn’t publish on Saturday! Shucks.
We wound up goofing off at the motel until Kelly called to say she was on her way home from the gym. We joined her shortly thereafter, then headed east this time.
Our destination for the day was Kennedy Space Center, which none of us had visited since about 1987... It’s changed! We spent most of the rest of the day there.
We arrived just in time for lunch, so we picked up something forgettable in one of the cafes, then headed for the tour buses, which would take us further onto the property.
First stop was an observation tower, which allowed 360 views over the area. To our south, we could see the Shuttle Discovery (photo on the left) sitting on its launch pad. They had just recently scrubbed its latest mission due to cracks in the fuel tank and hadn’t yet decided whether to return it to the Vehicle Assembly Building or not.
The VAB is a huge building where they assemble the major components for launch. The assembled shuttles are then moved, very slowly, by the crawlers to their launch pads about a mile away. This takes most of the night...
Off to the north was another rocket on a launch pad (photo on the right above). It was launched just a few days later and was the first private venture into space. It made all the headlines when it launched. The four towers surrounding the launch pad are for lightning control.
The photo on the left shows our view of the Vehicle Assembly Building with a crawler in the foreground. The tread portion of these crawlers is larger than a Greyhound bus! The VAB is so large that it generates its own weather, sometimes raining inside!
The photo on the right shows a bird sitting on top of one of the shuttle engines that was on display in this observation tower.
From here, the bus took us to the Saturn/Apollo building which was a museum honoring the Apollo program. Included in the museum was the launch control room from that time period which was set up for visitors to see a simulation of the last few minutes before the Apollo 8 launch. Exciting!
The three photos above show this control room. The one on the left shows the room before the show began. The other two show portions of the recreated launch.
On to the next room, where they recreated the landing of the lunar module for Apollo 11. Part of the show failed, so, no photos...
The next room was a huge one and had a Saturn V rocket laying on its side there. This is the rocket that launched all the Apollo flights.
The photos to the left and right show the mighty engines at the base of the Saturn V rocket.
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The photos to the left and right are looking down the length of the Saturn V rocket.
Along the ceiling are banners recreating the badges of the many Apollo missions.
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We finally reached the nose end of the Saturn V rocket. The photo on the left shows the command module slightly moved away from the service module. This is the portion that will eventually return to Earth. The photo on the right shows another view of these two modules.
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Another room had EVA suits over the years and a recovered Apollo capsule (left). We were here for quite a while...
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Then it was back to the Visitor’s Center. We had a few minutes before our next show that we were going to, so we wandered around the Rocket Garden for a while. The photo on the left shows Carl sitting in a stripped down Gemini capsule. He says it was more spacious than some of the small planes he's piloted...
The photo on the right shows Kelly taking a picture in the Rocket Garden.
The photo on the left Shows me taking a photo up the side of a rocket. The photo on the right is the result...
Then it was time for the Star Trek live show that they put on a couple of times a day. It was strictly for entertainment and was fun to watch.
From there, we walked over to the gift shop for some souvenirs. I picked up a couple of pins from some of the flights that I really remembered (Freedom 6, Apollo 11, and Apollo 13).
By then, it was almost closing time. As we started towards the exit, we all looked over towards the Rocket Garden where they rockets had their nighttime lighting turned on. The sky behind them was that magical blue that appears just after sunset, so we all pulled out our cameras. I almost wish I had drug the tripod along for this one shot (left)!
From there, we drove down to Cocoa Beach Pier for dinner. We managed to get a table right by the windows and watched the waves all during dinner. Oh, the food was good, too.
Then back to Kelly’s for a few minutes before returning to the hotel and beds.