To Kennedy and Beyond.......
Kennedy Space Centre is located around and hour and half’s drive from our villa on the East Coast of Florida. We set off early and were all just a little bit excited about seeing the lift off platforms, some space rockets and the possibility of spotting the odd alligator!
It’s a pretty straightforward drive so felt like no time at all to get there. The approach is very picturesque with a nice drive across the Indian River onto Merritt Island where the visitors centre is situated. We arrived and parked, then walked to the entrance and could already spot some rockets. Once inside we planned our day. There is lots to see and do and all separated into ‘mission zones’ so we decided to start with a 3D exploration of NASA space history before moving onto the ‘Behind the Gates mission zone’ which include the bus tour.
The tour was extremely exciting as it drove us out to see the launch pads. First though, we drove towards and past the massively impressive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The VAB, as the name suggest, is where all the rockets are built so of course, has to be enormous. It was used to manufacture the Saturn V rocket and the Space Shuttle’s (more about them later). It is in fact the largest single storey building in the world and each of the stripes on the US flag on the side is 9 feet wide and the blue corner part of the flag is the size of a basketball court! As we drove past the VAB we also saw the NASA launch centre before passing some of the launch pads. It’s quite something to think that all the missions to space including Apollo and the Space Shuttles where launched from the pads there.
When we finished the bus tour which takes about an hour, we returned to the visitor centre and onto the next ‘mission zone’. This one was ‘race to the moon’ and we started by watching a film about the mission to land on the moon and sat in a mock up of the NASA launch control centre. Although it isn’t actually the control centre it is all the original equipment and it is amazing sitting there with actual footage looking at the actual equipment that helped to land astronauts on the moon.
Next we went into an area that had a large screen showing the history of the space shuttle. A very interesting history which culminated in the screen going up with the Atlantis space shuttle standing behind it. My husband actually got quite emotional as it is an awesome piece of history, especially as we had both grown up with all the shuttle launches on the tv, so to actually be stood next to one was incredible.
After the shuttle, we explored all the interesting space exhibits and there are lots of fantastic interactive things for the kids to do. One fun part was crawling through the space centre access tubes which were actually very cramped, high up and see through! Onto the next hangar and this was also hugely impressive. In there is the Saturn V rocket that went on several missions to launch humans into space and onto the moon. As with everything else at Kennedy, we were absolutely blown away by the size of the rocket and marvelled at how these things got into space!
Outside there is a lovely moon garden which you can look out from across to the launch pads. There are also lots of other things you can do at the space centre such as meeting an astronaut and having them take you on a tour but that’s for another time.
We had an absolutely incredible day exploring and would certainly go back, we even spotted a couple of alligators on our journey back across the Indian River. There are so many opportunities for fantastic photos, I’ve only picked a couple of my favourites here but pop in and see me if you’d like to see some more photos and hear about the incredible experience that is a must on your Florida visit!