2017-12-22: Kennedy Space Center

Today we visited the Kennedy Space Center. After waking up and having some breakfast at the hotel, Darrell and Jim walked a couple of blocks to the Hertz building and picked up the Dodge Caravan that we had reserved. The men returned to the hotel to pick up the rest of the family and we were off to the space center.

We arrived at Kennedy Space Center around 10:45am. We had pre-purchased which had to be picked up a will call.  A few people ahead of Amanda were having issues at the check in counter which added to the pick up time but after a few minutes of waiting, we finally had our tickets and entered.

We were greeted by a “rocket garden” once you enter where they have half a dozen old rockets on display. A bus tour of the facility was included in the admission so we headed over to the bus terminal first. We boarded the bus and we took a drive around the vehicle assembly building and the two main launch pads where the Saturn V and space shuttles were launched from. The vehicle assembly building is where they assemble the rockets for launch. They assemble them upright on one of the launch crawlers. The building has huge doors that open so the rocket can be removed from the building and transferred to the launch pads. One of the launch pads (pad 39A) has been taken over by the SpaceX program. The second launch pad (39B) is being rebuilt to support NASAs new Space Launch System (SLS) that they are developing. NASA is moving away from low orbit launches including launches to the International Space Station. They are relying on commercial partnerships with SpaceX and Boeing to provide those launches moving forward. NASA is now focusing their efforts on deep space launches including sending people to Mars.

The bus tour ended at the Saturn V building. This building is dedicated to the Saturn V rocket and it’s missions. When you enter the building, they take you through a video presentation and then a room where they have all the control center equipment for the Saturn V rockets. Once you leave the presentation, you enter a large hangar basically where they have a Saturn V rocket laid horizontally. The rocket is HUGE! The Saturn V rocket produced more thrust than 200 F-18s combined. The room was full of information about the Saturn V missions.

Once we were done exploring the Saturn V building, we returned to the bus terminal which took us back to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center. We grabbed some lunch which was another experience. They don’t seem to have the food services set up to handle the number of visitors they get. The space center wasn’t that busy but getting food took forever.

After lunch, we headed to the Space Shuttle Atlantis building. They built a building around the space shuttle when it retired for everyone to see. This building was dedicated to the space shuttle program. The way they reveal the space shuttle was amazing. They like their video presentations at the space center. We watched a video about the space shuttle when all of a sudden the screen in front of us became transparent showing the front of the space shuttle. The screen then retracted into the ceiling and we could walk to the display area and check out the shuttle. It was a really amazing effect. It was really cool seeing the space shuttle up close. It’s much larger than you might think.

After learning about the space shuttle program, we headed to the Journey to Mars exhibit. They are really trying to get you interested in the plan to send people to Mars. The exhibits are geared towards the young kids telling them they will be the generation that makes it happen. There are a bunch of problems they need to solve in order for travel to Mars to happen.

Jim had to jump onto a conference call at this time unfortunately so he headed back to the van to call in. The rest of the family grabbed an ice cream snack and headed to the Hall of Heroes which holds the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Again, there was a video presentation when you enter the building. One part of the presentation was 3D and they had fans in the theatre to simulate wind effect as the rockets passed by. This building had a lot of information about the different astronauts and some of their pasts.

After leaving the Hall of Heroes, we headed back to the van and joined up with Jim. We thought we’d spend a few hours at the space center, but we ended up staying the whole day. We left around 6:00 so we spent a good seven hours exploring. Darrell drove us back towards the hotel while Jim continued his call. We made a quick stop at Target for a few supplies before grabbing some dinner at Wendy’s. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and took the kids to the pool. It was a busy day and late night for the kids. We returned to the room around 9:30pm and called it a night.

Tomorrow we board the ship!