Kennedy Space Center

Sunday, November 24th
Savannah, GA
Mostly Sunny - 61 Degrees

We drove 314.5 miles straight down I95 from Savannah to Cocoa Beach, Florida.  About half-way down, we asked Siri for the closest Costco for cheap gas.  We followed her to an abandoned industrial area in Jacksonville.  No Costco.  Not even close.  We weren't desperate for gas, but needed a potty stop, so we found the nearest gas station, and a gathering spot for the homeless, degenerate, and mentally ill.  We escaped with our lives, half a tank of gas, and who knows what from the toilet seat, but it was a close call.  Cocoa Beach is nothing special, just a low rent surfer town on the Florida coast, but Cocoa Beach has a pretty cool address:  Cape Canaveral.  We are going to the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow.

Cocoa Beach, FL
Partly Cloudy - 75 Degrees

Cocoa Beach doesn't have five-star accommodations.  But, the Four Points by Sheraton Cocoa Beach is part of "The World's Largest Surfing Complex," just off the widest beach in Florida, with a full service Starbucks and the Shark Pit Bar & Grill onsite, and a self-service laundry room to refresh our wardrobe for the rest of the trip.  All that...and we could pay with Starwood Points...and a bag a chips.

This is the kind of place that makes you feel a little bit dirty as soon as you walk in the door, and that was before we saw the room.  We checked-in to Room 206, parked the car on level 3, lugged the bags from the garage into the hotel, and into the elevator.  Second floor, no problem, 206, no problem, key in the door, no problem, opened the door, problem.  The room hadn't been cleaned, or more precisely, had been cleaned, and then used as a **** pad, and then hadn't been cleaned again.  New room, 306, no problem.  But the place was still icky, the laundry facilities limited and out of order.  So we had the best dinner you could expect for a place called the Shark Pit Bar & Grill, and went to bed.


Monday, November 25th
Cocoa Beach, FL
Mostly Cloudy - 71 Degrees

Not quite refreshed after a night at the Four Points Surfer Hell, at least we had breakfast at Starbucks to look forward to.  The front desk gave us breakfast vouchers as an apology for the dirty room, a nice gesture to be sure.  Turns out the "Breakfast Vouchers" were good for exactly one roll and one drip coffee each, no substitutions, no credits, no exceptions.  Now, we're from Seattle.  Who the hell orders drip coffee at Starbucks???  That's only two words and, as we all know, the minimum Starbucks order word count is, like six, at least, or something.  So, we ordered what we wanted, plus the stupid free drip coffees, and delivered them to the drips at the front desk.  And we got our points back.

Fifty miles east of Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center isn't just a theme park, it's the real deal.  History was made here, triumphs and tragedies realized, heroes made and lost.  This has been, and may be again, the very forefront of human endeavor, the highest technology, the basecamp of exploration, the font of discovery.  This is an inspiring place, in large part created by, and dedicated to, an inspiring leader at the dawn of an inspiring age.

"Welcome to the greatest space adventure on Earth! Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the only place in the world where you can walk under the largest rocket ever made, touch an actual moon rock, meet a veteran NASA astronaut, experience the International Space Station and stand face-to-face with Atlantis – all in the same day."

Admission to Kennedy Space Center is pricey, but it includes more to do and see than a single day can accommodate.  We only saw a fraction of it, and started with the basic bus tour included with admission.

"Short of becoming an astronaut, there’s no better way to get a glimpse of Kennedy Space Center than on the Kennedy Space Center Tour."

From the visitor complex in one small corner of the Kennedy Space Center along the Indian River, the bus tour took us past some of the most iconic structures of the space age.  The Vehicle Assembly Building was the heart of the Space Shuttle program.  It predates the Space Shuttle, used to ready rockets for launch since 1968, but it is known as the home of the Shuttle.  It is the largest single-story building in the world, but at 526 feet high, you could fit a forty-story building inside of it.  And It is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume at 129,428,000 cubic feet (still less than one-third the size of the Boeing Everett plant by volume, but impressive nonetheless).  The doors are the largest in the world at 456 feet high, so large, they take 45 minutes to open all the way.  When preparations began for a Space Shuttle Launch, the Shuttle would be rolled into the VAB vertically on the Crawler Transporter.  With preparations complete, it would roll back out on the Transporter Crawler and crawl to the launch pad at one mile an hour along tracks as wide as an 8-lane highway, paved with crushed river rock specially selected to minimize friction and static electricity.  Following mostly the same route the Shuttle took, we were transported to the launch pad as well, both LC-39A and LC-39B, where all Shuttle launches took place.  LC-39B is currently being reconstructed for the next wave of launches, rockets made by third-party contractors like Boeing.  The final stop on the tour is Apollo / Saturn V Center.

"This is where it all began. On July 20, 1969, millions of people all over the world held their breath while a single man put his foot onto the moon’s surface. Recapture the wonder and excitement of that day with a visit to the Apollo / Saturn V Center – the one place in the world where you can reach out and touch a moon rock!  You’ll feel the space race come alive as you stand under the largest rocket ever made – the mighty Saturn V. This monumental 363-foot rocket was America’s lunar transportation for 27 brave astronauts who traveled to the moon and back, fulfilling the dreams and imagination of people around the world. The same sense of awe still overwhelms visitors today."

The Apollo / Saturn V Center is an awesome experience.  It begins as huge payload doors open into a theater with a big-screen movie of the history of the Apollo program, culminating in the loss of the Apollo I.  On a low note that almost makes you forget how the story ends, another set of doors open revealing the actual mission control room for the Apollo launches.  It has been reconfigured, but the equipment is original.  From this vantage point, another movie, with newsreel clips and live footage of launch control, tells the story of the successful launch of Apollo 8 and orbit of the moon.  More doors open leading to the exhibit with an actual Apollo / Saturn V rocket, so big, pictures can't capture the enormity of the achievement, just the business end of each stage.  This is still the largest rocket ever made and launched into space.

The latest and greatest co-star attractions at the visitor complex are the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit and the Shuttle Experience, just opened in June this year.  A full-scale mock-up of the external fuel tank and rocket boosters greets visitors at the entrance to the exhibit.

"At Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Space Shuttle Atlantis is the new $100 million home of the priceless, historic spacecraft that tells the incredible story of NASA’s 30-year Space Shuttle Program. The 90,000 square-foot Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction is the marquee element of the Visitor Complex’s 10-year master plan. Space Shuttle Atlantis features state-of-the-art multimedia presentations and more than 60 interactive exhibits and high-tech simulators that bring to life the complex systems and components behind this incredible feat of engineering. One of the most complicated and sophisticated pieces of equipment ever built, the shuttle is a vehicle that launched like a rocket, flew in orbit like a spacecraft and landed on a runway like a glider."

This is hands-down the coolest, most extensive, most fun exhibit of any kind we have ever seen.  It is multisensory and totally overwhelming.  Shuttle Atlantis is AWESOME!!!

Space Shuttle Atlantis is majestic suspended in midair, payload bay open, robotic arm extended, but it is an artifact.  Like a piece of taxidermy, it tells the story of what was, the structure and mechanics, but there is no anima.  That requires the Shuttle Launch Experience.

"Shuttle Launch Experience combines the detailed accounts of astronaut experiences with the expertise of premier design engineers to produce a true-to-life experience unique to visitor attractions around the world.  The technical highlights include an amazingly realistic simulation of the space shuttle’s eight and a half-minute ascent into orbit, custom-designed crew cabins with unprecedented vertical range, high-definition audiovisual effects, and advanced seating effects to maximize the sense of realism.  The journey begins as crew members enter the Shuttle Launch Experience, an ominous structure architecturally consistent with space shuttle facilities at Kennedy Space Center.  As crew members ascend along the gantry, astronaut testimonials set the stage for what is to come. Entering the heart of space shuttle operations for the pre-launch briefing, crew members are guided by veteran space shuttle Commander Charlie Bolden as he takes them step-by-step through the launch sequence.  Passengers then enter the crew cabin in the space shuttle’s payload bay and strap in for launch.  For the next five minutes, the cabin’s 44 passengers see, feel and live the powerful journey to 17,500 mph. The payload bay doors open, to reveal a breathtaking view of Earth seldom seen in the first person."

WOW!!!

The theme of risk, of dreaming big and aiming high, of extending our reach and exceeding our grasp, of bravery and daring greatly, of heroic failure and tragic loss, is a part of everything at Kennedy Space Center.  It must be an incredible honor, and an indescribable thrill, to be among the very few to have wondered what was up there, and actually gone to find out.  More than science and technology, the exploration of space is a story about people, about their honor, and their sacrifice.  The Astronaut Memorial is dedicated to the heroes we sent off with high hopes, and welcomed home with heavy hearts.

Next stop:  Hollywood