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NASA Kennedy Space Center, FL

The NASA Kennedy Space Center is a fascinating journey into space history. They have the real deal here - actual rockets, lunar modules, flight capsules… even control rooms! They are all completely authentic. Everything except the mockup NASA shuttle is 100% real. You can even have lunch with a real astronaut! All science and space buffs need to visit the Kennedy Space Center, Florida to see how massive (and obsolete) the equipment is.
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Entrance to the Kennedy Space Center. They dolled it all up like it was Disney World or something, complete with levitating astronaut.

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Here are the prices as of February 2005. On the right side you can see the offer to dine with an astronaut. I think it's worth it if that is something that always interested you. The food is very cafeteria, though. It wasn't bad, but don't expect anything grand to eat for your money.

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The Kennedy Space Center has a mockup shuttle that you can visit. It's not a real shuttle, but it looks pretty darn good. The cockpit and cargo bay are open to visitors on 2 different levels via the scaffolding on the right of the photo. There are 2 levels to visit.

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Mock-up shuttle booster rocket is displayed at the north entrance to the space center. Compared to the Saturn V Apollo rockets, these things are tiny. But then again, the shuttle doesn't need all that fuel to travel to the moon and back. It just has to get up into earth's orbit.

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Your's truly poses at the nose of the shuttle mockup

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The side of the shuttle.

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You can see the controls inside the shuttle cockpit. The window isn't see-through and is quite small.

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A pretend astronaut greets you at the shuttle cockpit. The cockpit has a glass barrier to the public.

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The cargo bay comes complete with a mock satellite payload and a mock Canadian arm (on the right of the photo).

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The booster and main rockets.

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When you get close to the shuttle you can see all the individual tiles. And each one is conveniently numbered.

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Seeing a tour group beneath the shuttle's fuselage shows you how big it really is.

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The Astronaut Memorial Foundation built a space mirror to commemorate the lives lost in the pursuit of space. The huge obelisk can rotate and tilt to allow the sun to strike mirrors in the back. The rays reflect off the mirrors and through the transparent names in the black monument.

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Being an astronaut is the most dangerous profession. 1 in 15 does not come back alive. Climbing Mount Everest is worse, there is about 1 death for every 5 successful summits and returns, but climbing Everest isn't really a profession.

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A plaque commemorates all who were killed. Interestingly the 3 worst accidents happened within 6 days of each other. If you become an astronaut, ask not to fly that week.

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There are plenty of blank spaces in the space mirror memorial. But it's just the design, not a premonition of failed missions to come.

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Oct 5, 1967 T-38 program. It looks like the wall is crying in sympathy.

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January 27, 1967 Apollo 1. Cockpit fire during a dress rehearsal. It wasn't even the real launch. I've heard the audio recording of the accident and it is pure terror and heartbreak.

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January 28, 1986 STS-51 was supposed to have the first teacher in space. Many people have teacher friends who were in the running for this honor.

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February 1, 2003 - STS-107 had the first Israeli in space.

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The rocket garden is a historical record of actual rockets built over the years.

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The rocket garden is a historical record of actual rockets built over the years.

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The rocket garden is a historical record of actual rockets built over the years.

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The rocket garden is a historical record of actual rockets built over the years.

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The rocket garden is a historical record of actual rockets built over the years. Except this one which apparently was wiped out in the monumental quadruple hurricane season of 2004.

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A sign near the bus terminal says that this thing can empty a pool in less than 30 seconds. I believe it.

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You have to imagine that you are 30+ stories above the ground walking towards the crowded capsule that will propel you into oblivion. Pretty scary. Here yours truly pauses as if he's safely planted on the ground or something.

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You have to imagine that you are 30+ stories above the ground walking towards the crowded capsule that will propel you into oblivion. Pretty scary.

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A mock-up of the tiny capsule that sent 3 astronauts to the moon. It's the same module that they parachute back to earth in.

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This capsule looks even more rickety in person. It launched and returned a pair of astronauts from orbit. Yikes.

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A closer look inside the Gemini capsule reveals the ghastly old technology that was used to hurl 2 men into space. But it worked.

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This is the actual command center used in Gemini mission contol. Every console has an ashtray. Today there is probably more processing power in your Dell Axim than in this whole room.

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When you have lunch with an astronaut, you get a nice centerpiece at your table.

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Jerry Carr was one of the last astronauts to live on Skylab in the 1970's. Here he is 72, but he was 34 when he became an astronaut. He said he applied just to see how far he would get in the selection process. Skylab was an orbiting space station that took data on the sun, the earth's geology, and the astronauts themselves.

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They told us that the Vehicle Assembly Building is the 4th largest building by volume in the world. It didn't look that big to me. But consider that each stripe on the flag is as big as a normal highway lane. You can see the hurricane damage in the form of missing panels.

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There is a shuttle behind each of those doors. The Apollo rockets can fit through them. Fully configured, fully fueled rockets and shuttles are put together in here, then manuevered out down a huge gravel track on a massive crawler to the launch pads.

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The actual consoles used to command the Apollo missions. There's a little show you go to that takes you through a launch. You experience the show before you get in to see the Saturn V rocket

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Inside the Saturn V building you can see one of 3 real rockets that took astronauts to the moon.

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The Saturn V rockets used 3 stages. After the 1st (bottom) stage used all its fuel it was jetisoned and the 2nd stage took over. The first stage fell to earth and landed unrecoverable in the ocean. Stages 2 and 3 were intentionally lost in space.

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The second stage rockets got the spacecraft just out of earth's orbit and off to the moon.

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The second stage rockets got the spacecraft just out of earth's orbit and off to the moon.

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The 3rd stage had to carry the command capsule, the lander, and the 3 astronauts to the moon. It orbitted the moon while the lander went down. It also provided thrust necessary to get out of the moon's orbit and back to earth.

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An actual Apollo lunar lander hangs in the Saturn V building. It's one of 3 leftover after the cancellation of the program.

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