Kennedy Space Center

Tony, Mom and I went to Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Boy was it HOT, must have been 100+ in the sun, 95 in the shade.

KSC is very educational, I can see why schools come here and kids go to space camp. It was very cool! We thought it would be small, but they have 2 IMAX movie theaters and some very LARGE exhibits. They have a life size model of the space shuttle! My question about this was, why is the flag backwards, but I haven't found the answer yet.

 These stairs to the right of the shuttle make it so you can go inside.

I am in front of the flight deck and a real space suit, as you can see it is VERY small inside the space shuttle. To think I thought Submariners had tight quarters! There is one more deck this size below and I believe that is about it for living space. Most of the shuttle is just storage of stuff like science to be taken up to space.

This is the building where the shuttle, external fuel tank, and the solid rocket boosters stay before the roll on the crawler out to the launch pad. Which, you may be interested to know, there is currently only one active shuttle and it will retire next year. If you can see the dark grey part of the building on the left, that is the profile of the doors. There are 4 LARGE doors and they each have 7 huge sections. The doors are taller then the shuttle standing up so it rolls right out completely upright.

This engine is also HUGE. If you look closely you can see a persons arm behind the engine. This engine is ONE of the 3 engines from the bottom of the space shuttle that sends it into space. This engine uses 500,000 gallons of fuel in 8-9 minutes of use, but it does produce 375,000 lbs of thrust, whoa imagine filling that up at the gas station!

This is the launchpad for the shuttles they roll the whole thing out there, and attach it and there is a cap that goes over the top. I am sure you  have seen this on TV before a launch many times.

This is the new type of space craft launch pad. I am honestly not sure what will happen to this new type of space craft since our mission to the moon was canceled and President Obama wants us to head straight to Mars. I hope that it will still be used!

This is the length of a Saturn Rocket, behind Tony, who took the picture are the engines. You can see how large it is, the woman in the white hat is my mother, and you can see the top of my head for reference. This was the same type of rocket that took our first men to the moon!

This is the actual pod that splashed down in the Ocean full of very tired moon men!

This suit was worn on the moon and comes complete with REAL MOON DIRT!

So being at KSC, made me feel like a very small piece of a GINORMOUS Universe, just the craft that take us to the moon make me feel tiny and insignificant. We saw some great shots of outer space from the Hubble telescope, we are such a small piece of a huge universe. It is all very humbling. If you ever come down here to Florida, I highly recommend this experience! Tony says "It is AWESOME!" he also says that it is too much to do in one day and that he would go again. Speaking of that, if you do get tickets and go you are welcome to come back for a 2nd day within 7 days after your original visit. So when you see the price, think 2 day pass!