Florida Part 2

Dad, Mum, and I day tripped out to the Kennedy Space Center. I have a thing for space -- not so much the rockets but the planets and exploration.

This is Dad looking thoughtfully at a rocket. Maybe he's dreaming of his home planet?

I think I discovered what's wrong with the space program...

The walkway that sent Neil and crew to the moon!

We hopped on a bus that took us out to the launch control centre. Along the way we spotted an astronaut relaxing in the NASA pool.

The launch control centre! Or at least the big building where they build rockets 'n stuff.

These are the biggest doors in the world.

Launch pad thingy. (excuse the technical jargon)

The crawler tracks -- made of special Arizona river bed stones piled deep because carrying big rockets is a heavy job.

One of my favourite parts was when we sat through a launch simulation. The control panels below are the real ones used during the Apollo 7 program and they lit up, black and white videos flashed on the screens, and we heard the real voice recordings from the launch. Our seats shook when the rocket launched! AMAZING. 

A piece of the MOON! It didn't smell cheesy.

Apollo 11 re-entry module. 

I wish they had an exhibit on the Mars rovers. I'm fascinated by them!

We also listened to a fascinating talk by astronaut Jack Lousma, who was a crew member on a Skylab mission and commander of a shuttle mission. He described in detail what it felt like to take off in a rocket and on the space shuttle! Dad even got to ask him a question: "Do you always launch from Earth in the same direction?"