Author - Kate
From – Titusville (Fl)
To – Titusville (Fl)
Via – NASA Cape Canaveral
Miles Driven - 30
Today’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157612448753446/
A branch of the IHOP chain (International Hous
e of Pancakes) is attached to our current motel so it was basically laziness & greed that led us there for breaky today. Grant can always be relied upon to try the house classic and so had pancakes, impressively he resisted the unlimited pancakes option – I guess he was still sleepy. I had the poached eggs which turned out to be the lardiest option of the two but we were going to need our energy for a visit to see the site of 124 launches into space, Kennedy Space Station at Cape Canaveral.
On the drive up to the Visitor Centre the first thing you see is a garden of old (real) space rockets, the second thing you see is the dummy of a fully suited astronaut on the ceiling. That was pretty much all I was hoping/expecting to see today so anything extra was going to be a plus.
We had heard there was a ride so we headed to the Launch sim
ulator designed by astronauts themselves. There was smoke, a vibrating floor and a pretty amusing video with people recounting their thoughts during their first take off and that was just the introduction. The actual ride shakes you around a lot and is pretty fun, thankfully you don’t have to sit upside down for 3 hours which is what the real folks have to do on genuine launches. Grant often reminds me that most of my blogs sound like a 5th grader writing a school report “first we blah blahed and then we blah blah and then and then” but I don’t like to leave anything out so I’m just going to list some of the stuff you can see; moon rock, space suits, the different mission control rooms, monuments and there is even an option to have lunch with an astronaut.
After all of that there is a bus tour that takes you to see some of the NASA sites on Merrit Island. As well as NASA the island is home to a wildlife sanctuary so along with spaceeeee sites you see alligators (we saw about 8), Armadillos, Herens, Eagles and a bunch of other pretty amazing looking birds. The buses are pretty essential as everything has to be spread out and for good reason. The fist stop takes you close to the launch pads, apparently on a launch date the sound of the launch alone will kill you if youre within 800 meters. On Weds this week they are moving out the Orbitor to one of the launch pads as the next launch is in early Feb and the rockets/orbitors spend a month on the pads getting prepared. Im pretty gutted we are just missing it but you cant have it all.
The Nasa building where the orbitors get attached to their fuel r
ockets is huge. We could see the massive building across the miles of water from our run last night and when they explain the scale it makes sense that its visible so far away. The stars on the flag on the side of the building are each six foot wide. You could fit Yankee stadium (which is huge itself) on the roof and still have room for a 1 acre car park. You can tell it’s really big when you are there but there isn’t anything to scale it against as the island is so remote so it helps when they explain that you could also fit 3.5 Empire State buildings inside of the space!
We’d watched the fascinating 3d Imax movie in the morning about the international space station, a cooperatio
n of 14 countries so it was interesting to see equipment being prepared to go up into the station next month and to see a mock ups of the space station itself. It’s also interesting to think that 6 people are in training right now to go up there in a few weeks. We ended our visit with some Space dot ice cream served in a mini space helmet so I feel now that I really know what its like to be a astronaut J
After a quick run that eveving in keeping with the new us we had a big dinner at Sonnys in keeping with the old us. Sonnys is a bbq joint that Grant had noticed was always packed. I had the pulled pork and Grant had the ribs platter and both were great. Sonnys has been a favourite with locals for 40 years and you cant blame them, it also explains why a lot of them are pretty massive.
From – Titusville (Fl)
To – Titusville (Fl)
Via – NASA Cape Canaveral
Miles Driven - 30
Today’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157612448753446/
A branch of the IHOP chain (International Hous
e of Pancakes) is attached to our current motel so it was basically laziness & greed that led us there for breaky today. Grant can always be relied upon to try the house classic and so had pancakes, impressively he resisted the unlimited pancakes option – I guess he was still sleepy. I had the poached eggs which turned out to be the lardiest option of the two but we were going to need our energy for a visit to see the site of 124 launches into space, Kennedy Space Station at Cape Canaveral.On the drive up to the Visitor Centre the first thing you see is a garden of old (real) space rockets, the second thing you see is the dummy of a fully suited astronaut on the ceiling. That was pretty much all I was hoping/expecting to see today so anything extra was going to be a plus.
We had heard there was a ride so we headed to the Launch sim
ulator designed by astronauts themselves. There was smoke, a vibrating floor and a pretty amusing video with people recounting their thoughts during their first take off and that was just the introduction. The actual ride shakes you around a lot and is pretty fun, thankfully you don’t have to sit upside down for 3 hours which is what the real folks have to do on genuine launches. Grant often reminds me that most of my blogs sound like a 5th grader writing a school report “first we blah blahed and then we blah blah and then and then” but I don’t like to leave anything out so I’m just going to list some of the stuff you can see; moon rock, space suits, the different mission control rooms, monuments and there is even an option to have lunch with an astronaut.After all of that there is a bus tour that takes you to see some of the NASA sites on Merrit Island. As well as NASA the island is home to a wildlife sanctuary so along with spaceeeee sites you see alligators (we saw about 8), Armadillos, Herens, Eagles and a bunch of other pretty amazing looking birds. The buses are pretty essential as everything has to be spread out and for good reason. The fist stop takes you close to the launch pads, apparently on a launch date the sound of the launch alone will kill you if youre within 800 meters. On Weds this week they are moving out the Orbitor to one of the launch pads as the next launch is in early Feb and the rockets/orbitors spend a month on the pads getting prepared. Im pretty gutted we are just missing it but you cant have it all.
The Nasa building where the orbitors get attached to their fuel r
ockets is huge. We could see the massive building across the miles of water from our run last night and when they explain the scale it makes sense that its visible so far away. The stars on the flag on the side of the building are each six foot wide. You could fit Yankee stadium (which is huge itself) on the roof and still have room for a 1 acre car park. You can tell it’s really big when you are there but there isn’t anything to scale it against as the island is so remote so it helps when they explain that you could also fit 3.5 Empire State buildings inside of the space!We’d watched the fascinating 3d Imax movie in the morning about the international space station, a cooperatio
n of 14 countries so it was interesting to see equipment being prepared to go up into the station next month and to see a mock ups of the space station itself. It’s also interesting to think that 6 people are in training right now to go up there in a few weeks. We ended our visit with some Space dot ice cream served in a mini space helmet so I feel now that I really know what its like to be a astronaut JAfter a quick run that eveving in keeping with the new us we had a big dinner at Sonnys in keeping with the old us. Sonnys is a bbq joint that Grant had noticed was always packed. I had the pulled pork and Grant had the ribs platter and both were great. Sonnys has been a favourite with locals for 40 years and you cant blame them, it also explains why a lot of them are pretty massive.
Tomorrow we are going to the astronaut hall of fame and then onto Orlando. Micky, here we come.
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