Ground Control to Major Tom

Today was our last day in Florida.  We woke up early, packed up, and headed to the Kennedy Space Center.  I visited the KSC when I was 9 years old, so I was excited to visit it again.  Space Exploration has always fascinated me.  We arrived just as the Center was opening and went straight to the Atlantis Exhibit.

Atlantis went to space 33 times before it was retired.  The exhibit started with a movie that showed the work that went into designing the Space Shuttle.  Up to that point, they had been unable to reuse any rockets and the rockets of the Apollo Era were significantly larger than the shuttle.  The engineers and designers of the Space Shuttle were truly ahead of their time.  The design was pure innovation.  There were several elements of the Space Shuttle that they envisioned that hadn't even been invented so they invented several components.  After 12 years, the first Space Shuttle went to space and returned safely back to Earth.  To say the least, it was inspiring.  At the end of the film, the screen became transparent and you could see the actual Space Shuttle in the next room.  It was awe-inspiring and incredibly motivational.

We looked around the Atlantis and several of the other exhibits.  We learned how the shuttles worked and saw what they looked like inside.

There was also a Space Shuttle Simulator.  The simulator was designed to look and feel exactly like how an actual space shuttle launch would feel.  It was amazing that the people watching the launch had to be over 3 1/2 miles away from the launch site.  If they were within 1,000 feet the concussion from the sound would actually stop their heart.  However, due to incredible engineering, the shuttle and astronauts are safe.  It's truly amazing, especially considering the shuttle was designed mostly in the 70s, long before smartphones, and modern technology.  In fact, the computers of those days have less power than smartphones today.

After the Atlantis Exhibit, we did a bus tour of the Center.  We drove by the Vehicle Assembly Building where they assemble the rockets and shuttles.  NASA isn't actually launching shuttles anymore, but they are working towards the next rockets that will propel us into deep space.  The VAB is the world's largest one-story building.  If it were an actual building, it would be over 50 stories tall.  It's humongous.

We also saw the Crawler Vehicles that transport the shuttles/rockets to the launch pads.  The launch pads are only 3 or 4 miles away from the VAB depending on the launch pad they are using, but it takes about 8 hours to get there because the Crawler moves so slow.

We also saw the launch pads where they sent the rockets and shuttles into space.  Interestingly enough, NASA has partnered with several companies in the private sector who are interested in space exploration and they are actually leasing one of their launch pads to SpaceX.  They also have Boeing on their grounds who are also working on space vehicles.  Not too far from Kennedy Space Center, the Air Force also launches unarmed rockets.

After the launch pads, they dropped us off to see a Saturn V rocket.  These types of rockets were used during the Apollo Explorations.  This was also huge!  It's actually twice as big as the space shuttles, over 36 stories tall.  It was very interesting to see how far space exploration came between those two eras, and I'm very excited to see what the new rockets will look like and be capable of!

At the Apollo Exhibit, they also have several different artifacts including a Space Suit from Alan Shepard that still has moon dust on it.  There were also several moon rocks.

At this point, we were running out of time so we headed back to the main visitors center.  Along the way, we saw a gator and an eagle's nest!  It was awesome.

Our visit to NASA was incredibly inspirational. I definitely learned that nothing is impossible with the future of Space Exploration.  After NASA we headed to the airport to board our flight to SLC. We have had an incredible trip and we can't wait to get back to Florida soon!