one small step for man... and all that

[ed. not sure whether we'll get any pics with this one - laptop about to die... anyway, here's the story...]

This morning we drove the 45 miles to the Kennedy space center, stopping on the way to buy some souvenirs at a place with a giant wizard on top. Nice to get a few momentos at about half the price they charge at Disney itself.

At Kennedy Dad really wanted to get a ticket to one of the extended but they were sold out.We had our lunch by the playground and then went into the I-max Theater for the 3-D show. We collected our glasses and took our seats. The show was about… can you guess? Well of course – Space! Did you know the first time America tried to get someone to the moon the rocket ship caught fire and the three astronauts aboard Apollo 1 died. After that failure America was determined to send a man to the moon, and be the first! Apollo 8 was the first to orbit the moon and it did a figure of 8 around the earth as well. No-one landed on the moon until Apollo 11 came along. Did you know the navigation system was trying to get them to landing a bolder filled place? Neil Armstrong (first on the moon) knew that if they landed there they would never be able to take of again so at the last minute he took the steering stick and steered the ship over without having time to tell the earth system. So with 20 seconds of fuel left he veered the rockets to land safely.

All the information I just gave you is a combination of all the short films we saw at the Kennedy space center. After the I-max we split up and dad went to the extra tour (he finally got a ticket) while we went on the normal bus tour. The tour started by the bus taking us to the observation deck there we could see the launching pads. The rocket travels to the pad upright on the morning of the takeoff - in fact it takes eight hours to get there on to “crawler” which goes at 1 mile per hour. It also takes 42 feet to a gallon! What a fuel drinker!!!

The second stop was at the Apollo / Saturn V center. Here there was an actual Saturn V (rocket) which is actually the most powerfull thing ever built apart from a nuclear bomb... and it's massive!!! Next to it was a green screen where they would take your photo and make it look as if you were in the Saturn V without gravity. At the last stop. We got to see real space stations in the makings!! When we got back to the main part we went on a simulator that tipped you onto your back just like a real rocket!!

From Amy!!!

By he way dad will tell you about his tour here:

Hi from Dad. in fact ours was quite similar (apart from an extra $22 to pay) except that we got a guide all the way and also got to visit both the current launch pads. I say current, but they have been used ever since the apollo program(me). I also got to see Stanley the Aligator. And I was also blown away by that Saturn rocket! The building they assemble the shuttle (& previous space aparatus also back to apollo) is the tallest single story building in the world @ 52 regular stories tall & also has the largest painted american flag. As well, there was the original control center for the apollo missions to check out & some amazing cinema & i-max presentations.

And, if I may skite briefly... There were 7 Apollo missions (all but Apollo 13 actually made it onto the moon) and this fella has now seen 3 of the actual capsules in real life. Apollo 14 here, and on this trip others @ Smithsonian & also the Air Force Museum in Dayton.

Also, the whole of Cape Canaveral is a wildlife sanctury and we got to see a couple of bald eagle nests (one of which the same pair had been returning to for 27 years) and even a real live eagle in the wild. Way cool!