It was an early start to drive the hour or so it took to get to the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. It was a very wet morning so driving was not easy but we got there just after opening and had to stand in the rain waiting to get through security as they only had 2 gates open.
We went to the Gateway Centre where you explore the future of space travel while highlighting what is happening right now in the space program. You can see the spacecraft of today and the visionary designs paving the way of human deep space travel and discover the current cutting-edge space exploration innovations from NASA and commercial partners.
Next we entered the spaceport of the future, Spaceport KSC, where we went on a journey to Mars (similar to the Soarin’ ride at Disney) and got a glimpse back in time at Mars’ ancient oceans, an encounter with the pioneering Perseverance rover, and escaped from one of the planet’s infamous dust storms.
We walked over to the Atlantis exhibition, the entrance to which is a full-scale space shuttle stack of two solid rocket boosters and orange external tank. Inside, Atlantis is displayed as only astronauts have seen her in space, rotated 43.21 degrees with payload doors open and Canadarm extended, as if just undocked from the International Space Station. There are many exhibits in there which showcase the orbiter spacecraft and tell the story of NASA’s 30-year Space Shuttle Program. You also experience life in space aboard the International Space Station, including how to sleep, eat, exercise and function like an astronaut.
We viewed the Forever Remembered exhibit which memorializes the 14 brave astronauts who perished during the loss of orbiters Challenger and Columbia. There are personal items from each astronaut and recovered hardware from both orbiters, including a section of Challenger’s left fuselage with American flag and the framework of Columbia’s cockpit windows.
Just like an astronaut, we learnt to pilot the space shuttle, including docking with the International Space Station and landing at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility. There are a lot of high-tech simulators that bring to life the complex systems and components behind the engineering of the space shuttle orbiter.
We jumped on a bus to ride to the Apollo/Saturn V Centre and on the way view (from the window of the bus) restricted areas of Kennedy Space Center, like launch complex 39B and the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Once there, you watch a few short movies, including where you relive the launch of the first crewed NASA mission to orbit the moon in 1968 aboard the massive Saturn V rocket. You experience the countdown for Apollo 8 facing the actual consoles used during the Apollo launches as you see and feel the powerful Saturn V Moon rocket lift off from the launch pad and blast into space.
In another movie room, you relive the final few minutes leading up to the first words ever spoken from the surface of the Moon, “Houston, Tranquility Base here…the Eagle has landed.” Using 3D theatrical elements blended with actual NASA film footage and mission control recordings, the Lunar Theater recreates events of that historic day in July 1969. Apollo astronauts also share their memories from the rarest of human experiences, walking on the Moon.
We explored the various exhibits about the Apollo missions including touching an actual Moon rock – a sample brought back to Earth from Apollo 17. There are medals, prototypes and training gear of astronauts. In the Apollo/Saturn V Center, you can walk beneath a real Saturn V rocket, the type of rocket that launched humans to the Moon. It is 111 meters long, 18 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Back at the main Centre, we checked out the rocket garden where you can view various rockets including the Mercury-Redstone 3 which Alan Shepard used to complete the first U.S. human space flight. Some more information about the various rockets you can view can be found here:
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/blog/rocket-garden
We viewed the exhibition about the work being done to get to Mars and finally we viewed the Space Mirror Memorial where you view a monument to go our NASA’s fallen heroes and to commemorate astronauts who gave their lives in pursuit of knowledge. The highly polished black granite is emblazoned with the names of 24 astronauts, including the crews of Apollo 1, STS-51L Challenger and STS-107 Columbia and is constantly illuminated.
Time to leave we headed back to Orlando and called into a Dick’s Sporting Goods to pick up a wooden baseball bat for TJ, then onto a super target nearby (seemed rude not to at least check it out), Whole Foods for dinner and then picked up a few Amazon packages before heading home.
Here are a few of the photos taken by the KSC photographers:
