Many of us in our family have an interest in space and in the missions into space, so heading to the Kennedy Space Center was top on our list of things to do on this trip.
Years ago when we lived in Florida and also came down once a year, we took the older kids to the space center quite a lot. In those days it was free to get in (and they have an awesome educational building), you only paid to take a bus tour.
Now they've added a lot and changed things so that there is an admission fee but you get to do so many awesome things.
We took a bus tour (its now included in the entry fee) and saw the Vehicle Assembly Building, some launch pads, the crawlers that move rockets out to the launch pads.
We also saw the buildings occupied by SpaceX which is owned by Elon Musk, of Paypal and Tesla Motors fame. SpaceX has leased this building and the launch pad for 20 years.
The highlight of the tour though, is the Apollo/Saturn 5 center. The Saturn 5 rockets (and this is a real one) were the rockets that propelled the Apollo missions into space. If there had been an Apollo 18 this rocket would have been the one used.
In the 60's my dad worked for an aerospace company that made spacesuits, and my dad remembers the astronauts coming for testing. They would put them in the suits and evacuate the oxygen from the room and while they were using the oxygen in the suit they'd have the run on treadmills, and vary the oxygen levels to see how well they could do!
Here is the suit that company made.
Back at the visitors center we saw this huge orb with the constellations on it that moves by water.
At the Atlantis complex we saw the real shuttle Atlantis (this is the underside) and Tim, my dad and kids, went on a launch simulator.
Grammy came along and we were thankful for her wheelchair. When we got home at 8:00pm she went straight to bed!
I thought this Christmas tree in the rocket garden was pretty.
And this was a pretty sunset on the way home. I think the thing that looks like a cloud is a palm tree. We were driving when I took the photo.
We are doing a beach day tomorrow.
Years ago when we lived in Florida and also came down once a year, we took the older kids to the space center quite a lot. In those days it was free to get in (and they have an awesome educational building), you only paid to take a bus tour.
Now they've added a lot and changed things so that there is an admission fee but you get to do so many awesome things.
We also saw the buildings occupied by SpaceX which is owned by Elon Musk, of Paypal and Tesla Motors fame. SpaceX has leased this building and the launch pad for 20 years.
The highlight of the tour though, is the Apollo/Saturn 5 center. The Saturn 5 rockets (and this is a real one) were the rockets that propelled the Apollo missions into space. If there had been an Apollo 18 this rocket would have been the one used.
At the Atlantis complex we saw the real shuttle Atlantis (this is the underside) and Tim, my dad and kids, went on a launch simulator.
Grammy came along and we were thankful for her wheelchair. When we got home at 8:00pm she went straight to bed!
I thought this Christmas tree in the rocket garden was pretty.
And this was a pretty sunset on the way home. I think the thing that looks like a cloud is a palm tree. We were driving when I took the photo.
4 comments:
Oh what a great day! How interesting about your dad's job back in the 60s. Your mom is looking like one of the kids! Hope that Tim's mom slept well and is raring to go again. =D
Fun times. Enjoy your trip. Happy Thanksgiving.
Good times!! Your different-for-you Thanksgiving looks like lots of fun!
The Space Center is so much fun! I haven't been there in years!
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