Good afternoon once again! This new column is called Gimmick Destinations, a column dedicated to sightseeing and locations related to space.
Some keynote facts about myself and the quest for space:
My wife Jessica and I were married on 10-04-2003, the day before NASA’s 45th Anniversary and 46th Anniversary of the launch of Sputnik.
15 years later, this year marks the 60th Anniversary of NASA, or National Air and Space Administration. Since we were in Florida celebrating our 15th anniversary along with our kids, we decided to go over and visit the crown jewel of the Space Coast.
The visitor complex at KSC (Kennedy Space Center) is ever-growing. The Atlantis center is in the back, which we will talk about later on in this article.
The first things you see is the Rocket Garden or a collection of mockups containing rocket vehicles the US has flown over the past 60 years. Also is a stand up of the NASA “Meatball” logo, or blue space sphere with stars, a satellite, red rocket trail, and the iconic letters superimposed on it.
Following Visitor center guides’ advice, we went on the famed bus tour at the beginning. In addition to tour guides on the bus, there were various related videos on overhead consoles talking about the history of KSC.
Two of the most visible sites on the bus tour include LC-39a and b (Apollo launch sites for the Saturn I and V rockets) and the Vehicle Assembly Building (or VAB). The Space Shuttle exclusively used LC-39a and b for all flights of the Shuttle Program from 1981 to 2011. The VAB has been used for stacking all NASA rocket flights since the late 1960’s and at 526 ft, it’s America’s tallest building outside of an urban area.
The bus then takes you to a visitor center dedicated strictly to the Saturn rocket program and the Apollo missions. Besides numerous relics, including full-size segments of the Saturn V, there were numerous displays of Apollo spacecraft training vehicles. What’s interesting is that the Saturn V F-1 motor nozzles are much wider than the Mercury (Redstone and Atlas) and Gemini (Titan) rockets that served as their predecessor.
There is much related to children’s enthusiasm here at KSC. My son and I posed for some green-screen photos (which I will post later when I can accurately scan them). I remember having built a cardboard Shuttle when I was a kid too!
A major moment of inspiration came from seeing the Apollo 7 launch control room. I brought my Masters in Systems Engineering book with me to study for my first major exam (which I got an A in by the way!).
After this, we returned to the main Visitor’s Center, and on to the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit. The nozzles of the Shuttle Rocket boosters are as large as depicted here where I and my kids are standing.
All parts of the KSC visit were magical. But for some reason, getting to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis was the greatest of them all. There was a 15-minute program beforehand talking about the beginning of the Shuttle program, to construction, to flight, and onward. At the very end, lights from behind the screen came on and what you think is just a really good image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis turn out (as you’re shocked to realize) is the ACTUAL Shuttle! People in the theatre started vehemently cheering at the sight of the fourth-spacefaring Shuttle now safely on display.
The full facility was built around Atlantis to tell the story of the Space Shuttle’s history to the world. It was the last Shuttle of the program to fly, and my children remember seeing her launch on TV from years ago.
For me, this Shuttle actually helped me overcome my dislike of Math. I only found it fitting to read a couple of HW sections next to a ship. that greatly inspired my love of Space.
Outside, the Rocket Garden has a guided tour and opportunities to let the kids see what it’s like to climb in a spacecraft, the size, and the feel.
The Kennedy Space Center is a great place to visit. Besides being the start point of many of our country’s spaceflights, it is full of history that you will not learn unless you come to see this place and take in the thought of “this is where it all happened”. I could not be more pleased with how well they set it all up to encourage interest in not just our efforts toward Space but WHY we do it. We will definitely come back to visit as often as we can and recommend you go visit if you’ve yet to go.
Now to visit “I Dream of Jeannie” Frozen Yogurt in local Cocoa Beach . . . but that’s another story.
For the Great Galactic Space Gimmick, I’m Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski! 🙂
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