For our one day to ourselves in Florida, we decided to have a blast at Kennedy Space Center!
While planning this day, my new hubby, who is a huge astrophysics nerd, was quite impressed with all the space program history I knew.
At the entrance we found the historic countdown clock perched a top the hill, once used for missions, from Apollo 12 to space shuttles, now relocated here for the guests to use for happy photo ops!
This place was SO huge, there was no way to explore everything, so we hit the most unique things that we hadn’t yet experienced elsewhere.
After watching a program of imagery from the James Webb Telescope, named after NASA’s second administrator from 1961 to 1968, we enjoyed lunch on one of the patios.
Then we came here to the Space Mirror Memorial which honors those who lost their lives in the conquest of space.
Surrounded by water of all types was pretty cool, since I used to live in the land of drought.
The astronauts used these T-38 Talon Jets to conveniently travel between Johnson Space Center in Houston and Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, here, and other places.
Meanwhile it helped them keep their flight skills honed.
This is the North Lawn Launch Viewing Area which allows dramatic sights once rockets break the tree line.
My favorite part of the tour was the tour of the Cape, only accessible by bus, the only way the one thing at the top of my list…the launch pad!
This is the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) which looked quite familiar to me.
Nearby was the Apollo/Saturn V Center where we disembarked to explore on foot…
My favorite thing inside the Apollo/Saturn V Center was the Apollo 8 Firing Room in the room using the actual consoles for the Apollo 8 mission.
My next favorite thing inside the building was the massive Saturn V Rocket overhead, larger than the Statue of Liberty!
We explored from the tail end…
…to the tip, and all the stages in between! (more photos at my Flickr set)
At the tip is the capsule which landed in the ocean with the three astronauts after they returned to earth.
This is a hologram of astronaut Charlie Duke of Apollo 16, whom I met many years ago.
I used to use his video, which I borrowed from the school district library, for my students to learn about astronauts going to the moon.
By the time I wanted to buy my own copy, the videos were no longer for sale.
While watching this, it reminded me of the videos, so I wonder if the space center converted them for use here.
I highly recommend bringing kids to this because Charlie Duke is so interesting and holograms are pretty cool.
The screen at the bottom of the photo is the touch pad to choose selections to play of the hologram.
Finally, for my absolutely favorite part of the day…walking to the Banana Creek Launch Viewing Area…
The tall shadow on the middle of the horizon is one of the launch pads, about 3.5 miles away! Wow! Can you just imagine sitting here and watching one of those massive rockets launching! It must be thunderous!
From this angle, the launch pad can be seen again, on the middle part of the horizon. On the far left, the tall building is the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the tall building we drove by right before coming here.
After walking around to see more great stuff, inside and out, we took the bus back to the space center.
If we get to return to Florida someday, we want to return here to see all the other interesting stuff we missed.
Since Kennedy Space Center was about to close, we left for my second dream of the day…a short drive to Cocoa Beach and I Dream of Jeannie! Stay tuned!
