NASA Kennedy Space Center
The Kennedy Space Center east of Orlando, Florida remains an important part of the United States' exploration of space. After visiting with the astronaut of the day, plan to spend the rest of the day touring the physical plant. There are plenty of exhibits, buildings, and tours of the site on the beach where the rockets launch, to keep you occupied. You'll have to return to the nearby Air Museum.
As part of the Visit Orlando VIP Media Passport, I contacted the
Kennedy Space Center's PR division and was offered entry into the venue as well as the Meet With an Astronaut experience. It takes a few weeks to process requests, so I was particularly thrilled to be able to organize the meeting at a time a friend was visiting from out of town. She has a similar respect and awe for the innovations necessary for these brave men and women to have both had the dream and the ingenuity to pull this off. While the Kennedy Space Center hosted me for this day's events, all opinions herein are my own.
You enter the parking lot ($10 at the time of this writing), go to your assigned lot (parking attendant will tell you), park your car, make sure you have everything you need for the day (take your hat, sunscreen, water, government ID, camera, and wear comfortable walking shoes), and be in immediate awe at the entrance.
NASA Entrance Fountain Wall JFK
At the entrance, it's humbling to see the NASA globe and the gorgeous fountain with President John F. Kennedy's visage carved on the right side with a phrase from one of his famous speeches. He'd been assassinated before I was born but it was his dream that launched this program and his successors that saw the plan to fruition.
When you first pass through the gates, you'll be stunned to see the NASA "Rocket Garden." It's laughable, maybe, to think of people having rock gardens at home. That's how these rockets could be in NASA parlance. Can you imagine aliens seeing this as a "typical American home"? Between these rockets, so much smaller than the Saturn V, and the crawler, that you'll see when you take the bus tour out to the beach, the crawler is larger than many skyscrapers because it is used to move the equivalent, the rocket that holds the vessel that carries the astronauts and, perhaps, seven tons of supplies into space as was the case for Jose Hernandez and his team on the STS- 128 more than 10 years ago.
You'll find yourself asking: How can we get as much seen at NASA KSC as possible during your day at KSC. First stop, the 20-minute bus trip out to the beach. I hadn't realized what, precisely, we were going to see there.
Base of a Saturn V Rocket NASA Space Program
Be prepared to spend almost as much time there as you do the entire rest of the complex (depending on whether or not you want to stay for movies). There's a video on the bus of the length of the trip, with breaks as the driver points out the press area, the bleachers for launch, and the unpaved highway for the crawler to move its massive rocket, at about 0.5 miles per hour (max speed 1 mph). The tires weigh about a ton each - it's truly an amazing, astonishing site.
Once you arrive at the site, you'll wait to be allowed entry into the building, then proceed through a series of rooms, each with its own display. The control room c1968 was most moving to me. Imagining the fear and awe and hope in that room is still palpable today. They say it's exactly as it had been.
NASA Garden Outside the Saturn V Hangar The Eagle Has Landed Statue
When you finish these interactive displays, you'll be released into the actual building that holds the rocket. The five blasters are tremendous. Take the time to walk out the doors to the right and visit the Moon Garden with the statue of three astronauts who successfully landed on the moon "The Eagle Has Landed."
The fears of loss are also palpable as you're sickened at the thought of the three astronauts who perished in the uncontrollable fire. That stopped the space program dead in its tracks for 18 months or so as every nut and bolt and system was re-checked and re-designed, allowing for a safer program in the future.
The displays in this mega warehouse of a building could take more than a day to review on their own. We really wanted to try a simulator but after a 30-minute wait for a shuttle to take us back to the main complex (they don't warn you about it but that was the biggest time loss of the day) didn't have the time.
NASA Mars Exploration Rover Made From LEGOS
Several other buildings complete the main visitor complex - the restaurant, the play area with the awesome LEGO structures, the building that contains so many different displays about what it takes to be an astronaut from the intellectual capacity to selflessness and determination - I think that's where the smaller simulators are housed on the second level, but I had a date with the final Rocket Garden tour of the day.
NASA Rocket Garden
I attended that tour, then entered the Astronauts Hall of Fame. You'll want to examine the day's schedule to confirm you attend what's most important for you and your family.
A moving presentation occurs in the room as various areas lighting up and the picture of the Challenger crew that blew up in the 1980s with New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe evident, then allows us to move through the various exhibits at our own speed. It's moving, educational, thought-provoking, and humbling.
NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame
It's getting late, I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted after this experience. Exhilarated to have spent so much time with an astronaut and in awe of what has happened technologically. It's more than you would ever expect to find.
The drive back to your nighttime lodgings allows for reflection on all you've seen and done. I'm so glad we were able to meet the astronaut and hear his incredible story.
I'm glad I get to share his story and the glories of the trip - and encourage others to go and have a similar experience.
That's the thing about travel writing. You can have the same experience or better now that you know what to look for.
Happy trails.
