Van ready, go. NASA shirt on, go. Clear weather, go. Leave early because we are excited, go. Torgerson family you are go for launch to KSC! That's what all us people in the know call the Kennedy Space Center.
It is hard to know where to begin because it is really a dream come true to just be driving on the road to Cape Canaveral, but to be pulling around the NASA vehicle assembly building that is so large inside that it threatens to have it's own internal weather, that shit is crazy!
Or to be there on the day they moved the SpaceX Heavy Falcon on the 39A launch pad AND be able to see it just is unexplainable.
Those two things alone would have been enough to make my trip. But it just got better from there.
The entrance has so many iconic pieces of history it is tough to focus on just getting your tickets and getting. But I had a job to do as a special guest at KSC. Luckily they gave me a VIP badge and lanyard that allowed me to skip lines, shake hands and thrill the tourists at the KSC.
Very Incontinent Person coming through, make way! Once we entered, discretely, we boarded the bus tour out to the launch pads and the Saturn and Apollo center. You enter the building and go straight through a presentation that shows the buildup of the space race and lead right up to the first moon landing. This included some of the original launch computers and the tape of the launch center leading up to the first American in space.
I was excited before it started.
Once we exited the presentation we entered a huge ass room/building that had a Saturn 5 rocket hanging from the ceiling!
It was just the damn coolest! The absolute size of it is mind boggling. 2 million sub systems working together in unison from a time when computers were people. Just amazing.
Afterwards we took the bus back to the main visitors center and took in the Atlantis exhibits and ride. Learning how NASA took the idea of a reusable shuttle to take the load as they moved into heavy low orbit lifting and constructing.
It all seemed so modern compared to the videos and pictures of the Apollo program, even the shuttle Atlantis still looks fresh and willing to launch. But then you see the mock-up insides of the cockpit and it is mainly toggle switches, buttons and bad computer displays.
I don't know how they flew those damn things over a hundred times with only 2 tragic outcomes, and then you think back to the morning and it blows your mind they did it 20 years earlier. Just can't fathom.
We are some food, bought some gifts and checked out the rest of the KSC. The boys lost a bit of enthusiasm near the end but definitely perked up once we did the Mars exhibit.
Seeing what is currently rolling around Mars and what some day will be there got their minds back into it. And when the youngest heard that the people aged 7 to 17 will be the next astronauts going on a grand adventure to Mars, he looked at mom and said "that could be me!". KSC did what it was supposed to.
If you go make sure you book your tickets the days leading up to your visit if it is the busy season andake sure you buy the multi-day pass for one person. It costs a bit more for one person, but it saves 10% off everyone's else's tickets plus free parking and 10% off food and gifts. Plus you get this super duper card with your picture on it and a lanyard that you can use to pretend you are a VIP. So worth it.
I'll post more photos in another blog post so you can see more of KSC, and the kids too.
