We spent a day with the Sisters at the Kennedy Space Center. It was a great experience and I recommend it for anyone old enough to appreciate the significance of the space effort. We heard the Discovery taking off for its last journey - but it was too overcast to see it. Now it has landed and is in its storage building being prepared for transport to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Poppa and I had been there previously (with Granny and Gramps), but it had been quite a long time ago, and we didn't have time to see all the exhibits and presentations. Once again we were faced with the challenge of finding a parking spot - which wasn't that difficult, and soon we were crossing the lot towards the Space Center.
The first part of the tour was a bus ride to an observation station - where we could see the Endeavor on the launch pad in preparation for its launch on April 19th.
The view from this place was beautiful from any angle - the water was off to the left of Launch Pad 39A.
And off to the right was Launch Pad 39B awaiting the arrival of the Atlantis for its June 28th journey. We climbed back down to ground level and caught a returning bus to take us back to the Visitor Center. In the distance we could see the Vertical Assembly Building - where they attach the external tanks to the shuttle in preparation for take-off. It is huge - but looks tiny in this photo!
Just to give you an idea - there is an American flag painted on the top right hand corner of this building - which looks about the size of a normal flag (about 5'x7") from the ground. In actual fact, each of the fifty stars is six feet across. Very huge building! When we had returned to the Visitor Center, we watched an impressive presentation about the Apollo missions - and then got to enter an area where an actual Apollo rocket is on display...
....another very large construction as you can see by the size of the rocket compared to the little people exploring this area. The display includes a real LEM (Lunar Exploration Module).
There was an area devoted to all the brave astronauts who had ventured to the moon...
..oops!....ummm....there they are in the background, behind this rather famous astronaut. And finally when we reached the end of the building, we could see the little module that carried the humans off to that mysterious place and then brought them back.
Amazing! We got to enter an actual shuttle and see the inside. You would be amazed at how small the living quarters and the control room are. Most of the shuttle is a huge cargo area - and the display model was complete with....
..........yes! The Canadarm - emblazoned with our name and flag! We grabbed a snack at a little stand and soon had to head back to the car - since the Space Center was closing at 6pm. We had a little trouble re-finding the car, but eventually Poppa steered us in the right direction.
Aunt Grumpy treated us all to dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse (much to Squeegie's delight) in honour of Poppa's birthday - which was back in February. As usual it was delicious and we all left feeling over-full!
Once again we had a long day and were all ready for bed. I fell asleep thinking about my little boys back in Canada. Munchie had been taking fingerpainting lessons with Gramma and Taylor...
....while Little Smiley worked on his crawling skills...
....Mommee says he isn't really crawling, but is getting quite adept at getting to where he wants to go by wriggling along using his front appendages. And, as usual - he is smiling for the camera! Sweet dreams little ones!
The Space Centre is impressive. Interesting. It's great to see how happy the boys always seem to be.
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