Kennedy Space Centre
John & Mari join the space program for a day

"That's one small step for me, and a giant leap for Mari..."
No matter what your expectations are when you visit the Kennedy Space Centre, about an hours drive from Orlando - you'll still be blown away.
With exhibits from the early Mercury and Gemini missions, to the full size Apollo display and real live shuttles taxiing around - it is one of the best presented and well organised day trips we have ever taken. If you ever get the chance to visit it yourself: GO! Even if you aren't interested in space stuff - you will enjoy yourself.



This image I took using my digital camera, but I cheated! It's a photo of the screen which I shot while we were watching the Imax film about NASA.




This is another image from the Imax film, the screen for which is
6 floors high - it's quite an experience.




Also from the Imax film, this impressive shot looking out of the Shuttle bay towards Earth.

 



This is part of the International Space Station during final assembly, and actually this component was launched aboard the November 2000 shuttle and now orbits the Earth.




The amazing Apollo exhibit which had only recently opened, begins with this huge cut-away model of a Saturn 5 rocket. Behind it you can see one of two *REAL* Saturn 5's still in existence.



Nothing can prepare you for the size of this thing. Each of the five fuel pumps (one for each engine) during normal operation will transfer fuel at the rate of one family sized swimming pool every 23 seconds.  Wow.





It was hard to break away from this view, it is so awe inspiring.
Even on the widest setting, I couldn't get everything in.



The complexity of the plumbing, cooling and control circuitry is immense. This shows the 2nd stage engines. Note the white coiled pipes around the final nozzle (bottom left). The fuel passes through these to be warmed prior to being injected into the combustion chamber.






This is the moon buggy used by the Apollo 11 astronauts to practice driving around in. Obviously, the actual Lunar Rover is still there on the moon! Not too sure why they have their Christmas shopping in the back though...






These are the actual control consoles that Mission Control used to direct the Apollo missions - recreated into an amazing display, every light and display works and shows simulated data which makes the entire room come alive.

Our day at NASA wasn't long enough. Not by half. There is so much that we had to rush to make sure we didn't miss too much, and some things we wanted to see we were simply too tired or ran out of time. Two days would have allowed us to proceed at a more leisurely pace. One tip though, if you're going to visit the shop to buy some souvenirs, go in the morning when there's hardly anybody there. In the mid to late afternoon it's packed to capacity and you'll queue for ages just to pay for your purchases. Our guide told us to go early and we did: it was great advice.

I can't wait to go back!


click on the wombat to return home...