The first of 2 trips to the Kennedy Space Center (1 Viewer)

[John*Wells]

See my slide show of things I saw at the Kennedy Space Center. Its a really awesome and fun place to see. This took place in June 2013


Theres a lot of great stuff at the Space Center. In this set, The show starts with approaching the Space Center visitor Complex. At the time of the tour, the Complex to House the Space shuttle Atlantis was being completed. The approach is followed by an important message from the late President Kennedy, a look at some rocket history, the Apollo 14 Capsule, Early space suits, and even wildlife Preservation. On this tour we were allowed inside the Vehicle assembly building (VAB). Access was also granted to see the launchpads 39-A and B . Since this tour, the pads have been modified for various private space companies to launch their own rockets. The Orion Crew capsule which will fly with the new Space Launch System (SLS) is a lot like the Apollo Capsule. There is a model of it in the video. The SLS and Orion will be used for Deep Space Missions to the moon and Mars. in slide 12, is the Launcher for the SLS. At 1:15 you see the approach to the VAB. Last but not least, you see a model of the Space Shuttle named Inspiration which is on display outside the Astronaut Hall of Fame

 

[Sam Posten]

Thanks for sharing, John

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks for sharing your photos, John. I have been there twice -- once back in the mid-1970's as a teenager, and a 2nd time in the early 1990's with my wife. I remember being able to actually go into the gigantic vehicle assembly assembly building in the '70's -- but it was closed to the public upon the second visit. It's great to know that it's been re-opened to the public, as it was a highlight of my first visit and disappointing that I couldn't share the experience with my wife during the 2nd visit.

 

[John*Wells]

Thanks for sharing your photos, John. I have been there twice -- once back in the mid-1970's as a teenager, and a 2nd time in the early 1990's with my wife. I remember being able to actually go into the gigantic vehicle assembly assembly building in the '70's -- but it was closed to the public upon the second visit. It's great to know that it's been re-opened to the public, as it was a highlight of my first visit and disappointing that I couldn't share the experience with my wife during the 2nd visit.

It’s really awesome I found audio of President Kennedy addressing Congress in May of 1961 regarding the moon mission and made a slideshow with a lot of the same photos. I made this one yesterday and uploaded it with no audio because I didn’t want YouTube to hit me with a media rights violation.


The 2nd time I went was in December of 2013. By then the shuttle Atlantis exhibits were complete. They also have a space shuttle simulator ride. I will upload that video also when I get off work tonight. The second video also has pictures from the Florida aquarium which is on the waterfront in Tampa. Good times.

 

[David Norman]

I've probably done some version of the Canaveral/Kennedy Tour a dozen times since late 1960's and the Huntsville/Redstone at least half dozen times (Houston only once in ?1971). 1st trip was with the Family as a teen sometime just after Apollo 8 or 9 maybe - odd thing growing up in N Alabama is I toured Houston and Kennedy before Huntsville. Always amazing and never grows old.

The greatest and most devastating event in memory -- living in Florida was late 80's right after they re-started Shuttle missions (I think STS 30/Atlantis), I had Base Passes to the the closest non Family/nonPublic viewing areas for a Launch right across one of the inlets. Launch scrubbed at 30 seconds. I never got to see a live launch since I was leaving the state soon afterwards and my NASA Buddy was leaving for California job soon afterwards. By the time I was able to get back they had closed the base property on Launch Day to civilians/non employees and the closest viewing was probably 3x further away.