Great Loop Date 04.14.2011: To The Moon, Alice...

Thursday (April 14, 2011) Todd and I made an early start and drove the rental car from Titusville to the Kennedy Space Center.  We opted for a tour package that would let us tour the museum area as well as take a bus out to see the space shuttle Endeavor on the launch pad.  It would have been amazing to be able to stay in Titusville for the launch however, it had been moved to the first of May with the possibility of being delayed even longer.  With only Endeavor and Atlantis left to fly in the Space Shuttle program, we knew this tour was important.  We were not disappointed.

Upon entering Kennedy Space Center, we were in the Rocket Garden.  A walking tour with narration starts every 15 minutes.  It looked a lot like the Rocket Garden at Huntsville, AL. but was much more thorough.

The Saturn 1 Rocket was the United States' first heavy-lift dedicated space launcher.

Todd's only chance to send me too the moon!

Soyuz Space Capsule still in use to send astronauts to the International Space Station.  This will become our astronauts transportation to the ISS after the Space Shuttle Program ends.  The astronauts ride in the round ball at the end of the capsule.  It is designed such that it will literally bounce on the ground when it lands in the USSR after re-entry.

The robot from Lost In Space.  That's Todd beside it....not Will Robinson, although Will is probably about the same age (but not nearly as handsome)!

Mission Control in the early days.  It's the Mission Control most of us older folks remember.

Being transported out to the launch pad was so exciting.

 

The Orbiter Endeavor is encased in the service structure on the launch pad.  The enclosure protects it from weather and the environment.  It rotates away from the orbiter hours before lift off.

Shuttle Vehicle Assembly Building.  There are actually doors on both sides.  They assemble the rockets and the orbiters in this building.

The Shuttle Transporter.  It will make one more trip to the launch pad with Atlantis.

These are two tracks from the Transporter.  They are huge!

Soon these track marks will be history.

Launch Pad 39B was already being disassembled.  The Shuttle Program is coming to an end.

The barge that brings the solid rocket boosters back from the ocean.  They are cleaned and reused.

Mission Control and the Media Viewing Area.

The Dignitary Viewing Building.

The side of the Vehicle Assembly Building we are used to seeing in the news.

The Space Center is also a habitat for bald eagles.  This is a mother with her new chicks.

The Saturn 5 exhibit is nearly a duplicate of the exhibit at Huntsville, AL.

 

They did have a very nice presentation depicting the evolution of moon exploration.

Lunar Orbiter from the Saturn 5 Program.

Moon Rock sample.

Back outside we were able to walk through a Shuttle Orbiter Simulator.  This is the cockpit.

Directly behind the cockpit is the Shuttle Cargo Bay.

The Shuttle Arm that delivers the payload to the International Space Station.  It has also been instrumental in Satellite repairs.

The solid rocket boosters flanking the orange external propellant tank.

The Shuttle Simulator.

Todd and I absolutely got what we paid for....the best part of the tour!



It's the end of an era.  All of the orbiters will have new homes.  The Atlantis will stay in Cape Canaveral.  The Endeavor will be at home in Los Angeles, CA.  Discovery is going to Washington DC (actually outside of Dulles).  The Smithsonian is giving up the old Enterprise and she will go to the Intrepid in New York City.  We look forward to seeing Atlantis up close on our next Loop, as well as Enterprise in New York City.

In the meantime, space historians will write that on July 21, 2011, Atlantis, on the final flight of the space shuttle program, landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center. On July 22, 2,800 employees there were to receive layoff notices.