To the moon Borys!
Today we went for a much anticipated visit to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. I’ve never been one for staring at the heaves and wishing I could go there, but I certainly understand there are many who do wish fervently to go to space… and this place is 100% designed for those mere mortals among us who are fascinated by space, but are unlikely to ever venture there. And in awesome news for us, the place seemed to be operating at about 5-10% capacity, so no queues, no waiting, no crowds, straight into all exhibits and no people getting in your way all day. Best thing ever.
We started off having a wander through the Rocket Garden which houses the various different types of rockets that NASA has used over the decades to send men to space. A representative of each of the various programs appears here, as well as the actual gangway that Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins walked over, to board the Apollo 11 mission that eventually made Neil Armstrong on of the most famous men in the world – the first human to walk on the moon.
After that we went for the shuttle tour that takes visitors over the the Apollo and Saturn V visitor centre which houses some amazing pieces of history. On the way out to the centre, we passed through the Cape Canaveral Wildlife Reserve which has over 300 species of birds, 200 odd species of reptiles, many fish species and 30-40 odd mammals too. I spied some gators sunning themselves in the wetlands on the way out there, as well as a racoon who looked weirdly out of place and plenty of birds, including bald eagles which are quite low in population numbers down here (compared to Alaska anyway). It sounds like they have quite a bit of trouble keeping the gators out of the various NASA buildings and all fences are built to angle out, because an adult gator can climb a 6′ chain link fence! On the way, we passed the vehicle assemble building, which is exactly as it sounds – an enormous open building where the rockets, capsules, transport vehicles, shuttles etc are built. It was the largest of it’s type for decades, but has now been eclipsed in size. The flag on the side of the building measures 112′ x 220′ and each star is 6′ across if you are trying to make out the scale of the place…
Next stop was a gigantic hangar dedicated to the Apollo moon missions. There was an enormous Saturn V rocket hanging from the roof on display which was a back up rocket but was obviously never used as it was no longer required once the program was cancelled. The thing was enormous, I can’t describe how large it was. I had a lot of trouble fitting sections of it into my photos even with a wide angle lens.
Also in the Apollo and Saturn V visitor centre was a theatre set up to show visitors exactly what it was like in the Huston Command Centre at the time Neil Armstrong was guiding the LM (Lunar Module) onto the moon in what is one of the most daring and carefully executed landings in history – the LM was coming in too fast and they overshot the preferred landing zone by some 3 miles, leaving the crew to try and land on less than desirable terrain. With barely 12 seconds worth of fuel remaining to manoeuvre with, Armstrong landed the LM safely in a suitable position, all the while aware they were losing communications with command and running on the sniff of an oily rag – very impressive.
After that we went to see the retired Atlantis Shuttle which is housed in a large complex/ museum which shares heaps of information about the shuttle program, from its inception through its various missions and unthinkable tragedies. The Atlantis is enormous also, and incredible to behold.
Looking up close at the special tiles that make up the outer layer of the shuttle, you can see the wear and slight burn marks of the exits and re-entries this vehicle made going through the earths atmosphere… this thing actually went to space, and you can see the signs of it having been used as a working space craft.
It was through this section of the complex that I started to feel that things were taking on a somewhat Disneyesque feel… there was a loud soundtrack playing throughout that sounded like it was written by the same composers who did the Star Wars soundtrack and there was also a ‘Shuttle Simulation Experience’ ride of sorts, where we were herded into queues and placed into a ‘shuttle’ for a simulated launch. The experience is narrated by a genuine astronaut (whose name I have forgotten) in a deliberately comedic style and we were shaken and stirred and pushed back into our seats surrounded by hella loud noises to mimic an actual shuttle take off experience. It was fun, but definitely heading to Disney territory. 🙂
Next we got to see a lecture given by Wendy Lawrence, veteran astronaut of four space shuttle missions. She spoke of her early career as a naval aviator and how it led her to the space program. She discussed her extensive training for space in Russia and her eventual trips to space, as well as sharing insights on her fellow astronauts, their life in space, and the incredible journeys they’ve undertaken. At this point I have to say, I was disgusted at the behaviour of our fellow lecture going patrons. They’ve come into a lecture hall to listen to a presentation by a world famous astronaut and obviously have no idea what common lecture etiquette is. The people behind us insisted on talking to one another throughout the entire presentation, and many other patrons were coming and leaving with no attempt to be quiet or non-disruptive. Manners cost nothing, people. Annoying rude people should stay the fuck out of places like this. Grrr… anyway, from what I could hear in among being mortified at the disrespectful and rude behaviour of the audience, she has certainly had an interesting journey to become an astronaut and travelling to space.
We went directly from the lecture to an IMAX presentation on the Hubble Telescope – the trials and tribulations that they went through to get it into orbit, the problems they had with the lens and the poor quality imagery, and the numerous space walks to get, and keep it functional. They showed us in IMAX 3D some of the amazing imagery that is now being produced by the Hubble and the new view it is giving on the universe and beyond.
All up, I had an amazing day at the Kennedy Space Centre, and I really was’t expecting to, as I am not a particular fan of ‘all things space’. I would love to bring The Small Child here one day – I know he would just love it!