KSC Visit

I have always wanted to come here and I finally made it! The only thing better would have been seeing a launch! I paid the extra $20 for the "Up Close" tour, so I got to get up next to the launchpads and the landing strip for the Space Shuttle! Another favorite part of the day was the Apollo Launch Control. NASA had the original launch control room for the Apollo missions restored and the launch from Apollo 8 is simulated with sound and the windows rattle and the floor shakes!

Launchpad 39B (no longer being used for shuttle missions)

Launchpad 39A was recently used for Atlantis. There was a giant banner across the gate that read "GO ATLANTIS" and the Atlantis flag was flying, but I didn't get a picture of that.

The VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) The Shuttle is mounted to the SRB's and ET in this building and then taken out to the launchpad on a giant crawler. It was originally outfitted for the Apollo V.

The Saturn V Complex (which I personally like better than the area at JSC...) This Saturn V was originally planned to be used for Apollo 19, but the program was cancelled.

Hell Yes! F1 Rocket Engines! 1.5 Million Pounds of thrust come out of each one of these babies!

Lunar Module

Rocket Garden. All of the rockets are real. There was a Mercury Redstone, Atlas V, Saturn IB.

I want a garden like this in my backyard.

This shuttle launch simulator totally rocked! The first people to ride this were actually astronauts that have flown the shuttle and they said that it is very realistic. During the launch I did feel like I was slammed back in my seat at 3G's and my skin on my face on my neck did feel like it was being pushed back. Then at MECO all of the thrusting stopped and weighlessness started and I felt like I was constantly falling forward. The Cargo Bay doors opened and the Earth was under us and it was amazing!

I was scared though. After Max-Q when the engines are throttled up (and the astronauts say "Go throttle up") this is when the Challenger was lost in 1986 and I thought about that and that is the part of the ride where I got scared.