Day 18 – (05/20) Cape Canaveral, FL (Day 2)

Weather – ditto from yesterday.  The love bugs were out in abundance, arrgh! 

Carol’s health continues to improve.  Last night was the first time in weeks that she wasn’t kept awake by coughing.

We spent an amazing day at Kennedy Space Flight Center.  We saw most of the exhibits at the Visitor Center and took the Discover KSC: Today & Tomorrow bus tour.  The facilities stretch for miles. There is no way we can adequately describe this vast complex.  The exhibits were beautifully constructed and presented.  Here’s what we saw and did …

At Visitor Center

·         Experienced a shuttle launch (as crew members)

·         Walked through the full-scale orbiter replica Explorer

·         Saw a 3D IMAX presentation of assembly and operation of the Space Station

·         Viewed the Rocket Garden

·         Attended a presentation by Skylab and Space Shuttle astronaut Jack Lousma

Shuttle Auxiliary Fuel Tank & Solid Rocket Booster 

Orbiter replica (Explorer)

Each heat tile is numbered

Rocket Garden

Rocket Garden

Former astronaut Jack Lousma

He was a member of the second manned crew on the Skylab space station and also commanded the third space shuttle mission.  He's from Michigan and asked that we treat the Wolverines better in football.

On 2 Hour Bus Tour

·         Travelled to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), Shuttle Launch Pad A, Crawler Transporter, Shuttle Launch Pad B, Shuttle Landing Facility (runway), Apollo/Saturn V Center and other places we can’t remember

·         Watched a recreated Apollo launch

·         Saw a full scale Saturn V launch vehicle

·         Saw the Apollo 14 Command Module

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)
Atlantis is inside being prepared for a June 8th flight (STS-135)

Launch Pad 39A & Crawler Transporter
Note: the Crawler weighs 6 million pounds

Launch Pad 39A

Launch Pad 39B is being disassembled and a new launch tower will be installed here.

Saturn V launch vehicle

Carol views Saturn V model

Lunar Lander

Lunar Rover

Carol has now touched a moon rock

Apollo 14 Command Module

Did you know:

KSC is self-supporting.  No tax dollars are used to operate it.