A Boyhood Dream Fulfilled: Space-Geek Tour of the USA

[Human]

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but today was another 10 out of 10 day. I keep asking myself why I deserve this – one dream fulfilled after another.

But first things first: the rocket launch was rescheduled to tomorrow. That works out better for me anyway. If I can catch the launch tomorrow, that really will be the icing on the cake.

The day started with the pleasing discovery that there is an actual, proper, breakfast buffet at my hotel. It’s not flash, but I’m more happy than you can imagine to report that it actually has juice! And some other things as well... Please don’t judge me – I’ve been eating “instant oatmeal” from a Styrofoam cup every day so far.






Today was a freezing cold Florida day. It was 5 degrees when I left the hotel and I found myself wearing clothes that I didn’t expect to be wearing until I reached Washington and NYC. I caught an Uber to Kennedy Space Center…






And found myself looking at a complex that is considerably larger than Space Center Houston. I was glad to have purchased a two-day ticket!

 

[Human]

The first stop was the Space Shuttle Atlantis building. The first part of the experience was a couple of short, but excellent, multimedia shows outlining the history of the Space Shuttle programme, then the wall literally opened up and I found myself face-to-face with a Space Shuttle!






A guide from KSC then spent about 15 minutes with us explaining the various features of the Shuttle – the tiles, the cargo bay and its doors which doubled as “radiators” to manage the heat distribution, the takeoffs and landings, and so on.

I found myself just as overwhelmed with emotion as I’d been in Mission Control at Houston three days ago. I’d expected that the Shuttle would be parked outdoors and that I’d be standing at a distance, looking up at it. Instead it was mounted literally right in front of me. If my arms were about 25 cm longer I’d have been able to touch it. And the fact that the Shuttle does, frankly, have quite a bit of noticeable wear and tear, reinforced to me the fact that it’s been on countless missions to the ISS, the Hubble Space Telescope, and so on. Once again, I really didn’t want to leave.

 

[Human]

After looking at a couple more displays, including one of the abovementioned Hubble Telescope, I went downstairs to have a look at the underside of Atlantis, as well as more displays. There was also a memorial for the dead Challenger and Columbia astronauts which was quite moving.

 

[Human]

And then it was time for my 11am bus tour of Cape Canaveral. I’d paid US$26.75 extra to upgrade to an “Explorer Tour” which was longer and with more stops – a no-brainer, given how far I’d come and how long I’d waited to be there!



This is Cape Canaveral from a distance.


First stop was the absolutely massive “Vehicle Assembly Building”. To put its size into perspective, each of the stars on the American Flag is actually two metres long.


Then we were briefly taken to the Media area, from which the media reports on significant launches.


We drove past the custom-built road along which spacecraft and rockets are transported to the launch pads. The road is not asphalt because asphalt isn’t strong enough and the transport vehicles would just sink.


Speaking of transport vehicles, here’s one.


Most of the launches these days are by SpaceX (I’ll let you know why, below), which rents launch pads from NASA for the bargain-basement price of US$100,000/month.


While we were on our way to Launch Pad 39, we came across this payload being taken to its launch site. Our tour guide looked it up and told us that inside the payload housing was a SpaceX Starlink satellite which is due to be launched on January 13. He told us that Elon Musk’s intention was to launch 30,000 Starlink satellites within the next decade. To put that into perspective: there are currently 21,000 satellites orbiting the Earth, of which 5,000 are currently functional and the rest is “space junk”.


We then stopped next to Launch Pad Complex 39A and B. These are historic sites – all the Apollo, and many of the Space Shuttle, missions launched from here. It also happens to be where the launch will take place from tomorrow.







We were standing in the exact area where cameras are set up to record significant (mostly crewed) launches. The footage of the Challenger explosion in 1986, which we’ve all seen, was taken from this spot.


Our next stop was the “Orbiter Access Control Arm” (aka. bridge) across which all the Apollo astronauts walked to enter their Command Modules for their Apollo missions. Neil Armstrong walked across this on his way to the Moon … and now so have I!

 

[Human]

The bus then dropped us of at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. After another excellent multimedia presentation, the doors opened to reveal a full Saturn V rocket. Yes, it was the second one I’d seen in 4 days, but as I’ve always said, you can never have too many Saturn V rockets! It was equally as awesome as the one in Houston, and equally as moving to see it.






I also saw an actual Lunar Module.



And the Apollo 14 Command Module.

 

[Human]

Then I headed back to KSC for an excellent, and moving, IMAX movie on the new James Webb Space Telescope and its amazing discoveries.


It was then 10 minutes before closing time. But I was pleasantly surprised to be let into the “Heroes and Legends” exhibition, which was also excellent.











By this time it was way past closing time, but no-one was moving me on, so I finished the day at the Astronaut Hall of Fame. These are the first astronauts inducted:



And these are the most recent inductees.


Needless to say it was another incredible, moving, emotional, wonderful day! And I’m back tomorrow to hopefully see an actual launch. I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this; I’m so thankful that I can be here.

 

[Human]

At my hotel, there is one, and only one, dinner option that does not involve risking one’s life by sprinting across a busy freeway that has no pedestrian crossing. That option is the Cracker Barrel. So for the second night I went there for dinner, determined to eat more healthily than last night’s fat-filled feast. I began once again with a salad…



Had chicken soup for a main…


And there is no evidence whatsoever, photographic or otherwise, that I then ruined it all by having a huge slab of gooey chocolate cake smothered with icing and with a large scoop of ice-cream to the side. You can’t prove anything goodnight.

 

[Coathanger]

Our next stop was the “Orbiter Access Control Arm” (aka. bridge) across which all the Apollo astronauts walked to enter their Command Modules for their Apollo missions. Neil Armstrong walked across this on his way to the Moon … and now so have I!
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Wow, that’s pretty special that you get to walk across this piece of history!

Inspired by your trip report, I watched the excellent Netflix documentary “Apollo 13: Survival” which has a lot of archival footage including from Mission Control.

 

[Human]

Inspired by your trip report, I watched the excellent Netflix documentary “Apollo 13: Survival” which has a lot of archival footage including from Mission Control.

Thanks for letting me know about that documentary -- I hadn't heard about it. I'll watch it as soon as I get the chance.

To anyone who's interested, I’d highly recommend the documentary movies In the Shadow of the Moon (2007), Apollo 11 (2019), The Farthest – Voyager in Space (2017) and TV series When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (2008). And there are any number of dramatisations including the movie and TV series The Right Stuff (I preferred the movie to the TV series), First Man, Hidden Figures and, of course, Apollo 13. It’s not in the same category but I also love watching, and re-watching, The Martian!

There is, of course, no end of books on space travel either. My personal favourites are Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger, Apollo 13 by James Lovell and Jeffery Kluger, The Interstellar Age (on the Voyager probes) by Jim Bell and Chasing New Horizons by Alan Stern and David Grinspoon.

Our tour guide yesterday talked about movies. His favourite is Armageddon but he was at pains to point out that it's not scientifically accurate. He said that of all the movies on space and the space programme, Apollo 13 is by far the most accurate (although he said that astronaut Fred Haise, portrayed by Bill Paxton in the movie, got very angry at Bill Paxton when Paxton portrayed him at one point as chewing gum!). Our guide also said that The Martian is "very accurate"; given that it's fictional I presume he meant that it contains an accurate portrayal of the science surrounding a Mars mission.

Finally, The Planetary Society website (www.planetary.org) is heaven for hardcore space exploration geeks.

 

[Coathanger]

He said that of all the movies on space and the space programme, Apollo 13 is by far the most accurate (although he said that astronaut Fred Haise, portrayed by Bill Paxton in the movie, got very angry at Bill Paxton when Paxton portrayed him at one point as chewing gum!).

That’s interesting as the real footage in the Netflix documentary felt very familiar, just without Tom Hanks!

I really enjoyed Apollo 11 with the higher definition 70mm footage of the events without commentary too.

 

[Human]

I SAW A ROCKET LAUNCH!

​

I have now officially run out of superlatives to describe this trip so far.

It was still very cold today – in fact the morning show on the TV in the hotel dining room was leading with the cold snap in the SE of the United States. So having checked that the launch was still on, with a launch window of 4 hours, I packed my beanie and gloves and prepared to sit for four hours outdoors in the cold. I also arrived at KSC nice and early. I had no idea how crowded it would be or how in-demand the best seats and locations to see the launch would be.


As soon as the Space Center opened, I, like many others, made a beeline for the buses. The prime viewing area is called Banana Creek and it’s next to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, about 6km from the launch site (which is the closest they will let members of the public go). I was on one of the first buses, and climbing into the bleachers at the viewing area with about half an hour to go. The launch was to take place from Launch Pad 39A – the same launch pad that all of the Apollo missions launched from.

There was actually plenty of room and I could have arrived later, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. KSC had a commentator at the launch area, who made announcements about the progress of the countdown and who confirmed a few minutes later that the launch would take place at 10:27am as planned.





I’d started the day excited, but as the countdown progressed the sense of anticipation was indescribable. There was a live feed from SpaceX which was up on a big screen at the launch site. I had the live feed on my phone as well; here are some screenshots from just before the launch.



This was the view from my seat:


Right on schedule at 10:27am, it happened. I videoed the launch itself and I understand that I’m not allowed to post videos on AFF, but here are a few screenshots from the video that I took.






What the screenshots don’t convey are the noise and the movement. Because of the distance, the noise hit us about 15 seconds after the launch, and the ground literally did shake; it felt like a small earthquake. We all watched entranced as the Falcon rocket ascended and disappeared through the clouds. We then turned our attention to the live feed from SpaceX. Some screenshots:




At 8 minutes after liftoff, there were more gasps of amazement, followed by cheering, as the live feed showed that the Stage 1 rocket had successfully landed on a SpaceX pontoon about 600km away from us.




I had dreamt for my whole life of being present at a rocket launch. I had never imagined that it would happen. This trip had been planned a year ago and there was no way of knowing then if my visit would co-incide with a launch (and even then launches are subject to the weather conditions). Not for the first time on this trip, I felt totally overwhelmed with emotion. As the crowd dispersed, I remained seated and I watched the video I had taken of the launch. Before too long, though, there were too many tears streaming down my face and I felt a little self-conscious… But I’m not ashamed to say that as I returned to my hotel room later today and watched, and re-watched, the video again, more tears have been shed than I imagined would be the case!

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

I had dreamt for my whole life of being present at a rocket launch. I had never imagined that it would happen. This trip had been planned a year ago and there was no way of knowing then if my visit would co-incide with a launch (and even then launches are subject to the weather conditions). Not for the first time on this trip, I felt totally overwhelmed with emotion. As the crowd dispersed, I remained seated and I watched the video I had taken of the launch. Before too long, though, there were too many tears streaming down my face and I felt a little self-conscious… But I’m not ashamed to say that as I returned to my hotel room later today and watched, and re-watched, the video again, more tears have been shed than I imagined would be the case!​

I think this has been my favourite post ever on AFF. I am so happy for you @Human - it's wonderful to see your dreams coming true.

 

[RooFlyer]

Amazing. Absolutely well done and thanks for letting us all in on the experience.

d I understand that I’m not allowed to post videos on AFF,

I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t post a video like that on AFF. There’s no general prohibition.

Would love to see it!

The way I do it is to upload it to my YouTube account and then post a link into the thread.

 

[kookaburra75]

I SAW A ROCKET LAUNCH!

​

I have now officially run out of superlatives to describe this trip so far.

It was still very cold today – in fact the morning show on the TV in the hotel dining room was leading with the cold snap in the SE of the United States. So having checked that the launch was still on, with a launch window of 4 hours, I packed my beanie and gloves and prepared to sit for four hours outdoors in the cold. I also arrived at KSC nice and early. I had no idea how crowded it would be or how in-demand the best seats and locations to see the launch would be.
View attachment 424870

As soon as the Space Center opened, I, like many others, made a beeline for the buses. The prime viewing area is called Banana Creek and it’s next to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, about 6km from the launch site (which is the closest they will let members of the public go). I was on one of the first buses, and climbing into the bleachers at the viewing area with about half an hour to go. The launch was to take place from Launch Pad 39A – the same launch pad that all of the Apollo missions launched from.

There was actually plenty of room and I could have arrived later, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. KSC had a commentator at the launch area, who made announcements about the progress of the countdown and who confirmed a few minutes later that the launch would take place at 10:27am as planned.
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I’d started the day excited, but as the countdown progressed the sense of anticipation was indescribable. There was a live feed from SpaceX which was up on a big screen at the launch site. I had the live feed on my phone as well; here are some screenshots from just before the launch.
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This was the view from my seat:
View attachment 424878

Right on schedule at 10:27am, it happened. I videoed the launch itself and I understand that I’m not allowed to post videos on AFF, but here are a few screenshots from the video that I took.
View attachment 424879
View attachment 424880
View attachment 424881
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What the screenshots don’t convey are the noise and the movement. Because of the distance, the noise hit us about 15 seconds after the launch, and the ground literally did shake; it felt like a small earthquake. We all watched entranced as the Dragon rocket ascended and disappeared through the clouds. We then turned our attention to the live feed from SpaceX. Some screenshots:
View attachment 424884
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At 8 minutes after liftoff, there were more gasps of amazement, followed by cheering, as the live feed showed that the Stage 1 rocket had successfully landed on a SpaceX pontoon about 600km away from us.
View attachment 424887
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View attachment 424889

I had dreamt for my whole life of being present at a rocket launch. I had never imagined that it would happen. This trip had been planned a year ago and there was no way of knowing then if my visit would co-incide with a launch (and even then launches are subject to the weather conditions). Not for the first time on this trip, I felt totally overwhelmed with emotion. As the crowd dispersed, I remained seated and I watched the video I had taken of the launch. Before too long, though, there were too many tears streaming down my face and I felt a little self-conscious… But I’m not ashamed to say that as I returned to my hotel room later today and watched, and re-watched, the video again, more tears have been shed than I imagined would be the case!

That is just so cool, and I am so jealous. I am now going to start planning a similar trip, although I'll also have to plan which exotic location I will have to leave MrsK in while I head off on my own.

The bonus for you is, you will be able to keep telling your family and students forever, "... did I tell you about the time I was at a real rocket launch...".

 

[GarrettM]

This has been ASTOUNDING @Human. Really amazing stuff.
I'm not quite as fascinated by the space industry as you are, but you've really captured and conveyed your enthusiasm for everything every step of the way.
The Challenger and Colombus memorial especially I imagine was extremely poignant.

Great photos and well done.... so far!

 

[I love to travel]

Some friendly, albeit unsolicited advice. Given the amazing time you have had,don't forget to buy your wife a nice gift so she too can remember the time fondly

 

[Human]

Some friendly, albeit unsolicited advice. Given the amazing time you have had,don't forget to buy your wife a nice gift so she too can remember the time fondly

That is very, VERY good advice!!

 

[Human]

At first glance, the rest of the day might seem a little anticlimactic. But it wasn’t for me – I was on a planet-sized high and just taking in everything I could. After several minutes I returned to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, and spent some time walking around the Apollo Garden.








I then caught the bus back to the KSC. I’d seen most of what I’d wanted to see yesterday (remember I had planned to be spending up to 4 hours waiting during the launch window), but because the launch had taken place at the very start of the day I had time to do a lot of other stuff. I started by going into the Gateway building, which focuses on current and future NASA (and private corporation) hardware and missions.

 

[Human]

I then ventured into the “Journey to Mars” exhibition, which, likewise, focuses on current and future Mars exploration. It was good seeing lifesize models of the Mars rovers: I’d seen pictures of them many times, but like all the other spacecraft I’d seen, it’s difficult to get an accurate picture of their actual size until you’ve seen them in person.












I then went into the Theatre and watched and listened to a “Mission Status Briefing” – a summary of everything that NASA is involved in now, and the agency’s plan for the future.

 

[Human]

Immediately after that was an “Astronaut Encounter”. The astronaut in question was Julie Payette. She flew two Space Shuttle missions and was a Mission Specialist who helped construct the International Space Station. After her time as an astronaut she spent some time as Governor-General of Canada!


Her talk was both interesting and informative, focusing on what her role was as a Mission Specialist (it was to move the Shuttle’s robotic arm which carried both cargo and astronauts to construct the ISS).









After that, it was time for a bit of juvenile fun. The “Hyperdeck VR Experience” involves standing on a moving platform which also has wind effects, putting on a pair of VR goggles (I think the correct technical term is a “VR Headset”!) and pretending to be in a spaceship and on the moon. As a bit of a luddite myself (not to mention a man of middle- and rapidly-advancing-age!) I’d never had an experience like it and I was astounded to think that even when it felt like I was being transported across a bridge to my spaceship with the wind against my face, or tearing down a canyon in the moon, I wasn’t actually moving! It was totally lacking in any educational value but a whole lot of fun and a great way to end my time at Kennedy.


I slowly meandered out of Kennedy Space Center, taking as much time to walk out as I could, not really wanting my experience there to end, and turning as I left to take one last photo.




[Footnote: the Uber driver who picked me up from KSC yesterday is a Florida native who had worked as a journalist in the 1980s. She had witnessed the Challenger disaster in 1986 with her own eyes, and she told me of rushing back to her newspaper’s newsroom to spend all day and night filing stories. The driver who picked me up from KSC today was of the same age and lived in Titusville at the time of the Challenger disaster and he told me that he saw debris falling out of the sky (not sure I believe him as I think the Shuttle was way over the ocean at the time of the explosion). He spoke of how the Shuttle grounding was a dark time for the local area, whose economy is so dependent on the space programme.]