Checked an item off my bucket list and visited NASA KSC yesterday. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I choked up when I came face to face with the shuttle.

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Tony.

NIce pics and very nice to hear how you enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing. I went to KSC in Christmas 1985, I was 5 years old and remember nothing of it other than coming home and watching Challenger explode a couple weeks later. I went to Space Camp in Huntsville, AL where the experimental Enterprise is located. I thought that campus was cool but it looks like KSC takes the cake.

That is pretty cool. I went many years ago when I was younger but did not appreciate it then as I do now.

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Thank you for reminding me I need to revisit KSC. My dad worked on the shuttle program. I haven’t been back since they put Atlantis there. I live fairly close to Udvar Hazy, so I saw enterprise plenty when it was there, and I saw them fly discovery in and have seen it many times

I have a picture on my mantle of Challenger presented to my dad with a very nice note from Lt Gen Abraham thanking him for his contributions to the shuttle program as an “intel specialist”. The day the Challenger exploded is one of the few times I remember seeing my dad cry

Did you take the bus to the Apollo mission/Saturn rocket?

I too choked up when the doors opened to reveal the shuttle.
What a cool place!

I have haunted the KSC tours, the rocket garden and the Saturn V building. I’ve done each tour including one I don’t think they offer any longer - I think it was Then and Now or Behind the Scenes. I enjoyed it the most.

Great photos. The Saturn V museum bright tears to my eyes when I was there - it’s a monument to what we were but no longer. All that technology and skill from the 1960’s and now we are stuck in low earth orbit.

The other tours that should not be missed are the tours run at JSC - just as fascinating.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nhtagmember,

Yeah, that part always get me.
Now its time to get to a launch.
Got your email will touch base.
Thanks
Tim

Very cool.
Took my kids down to JSC in S Houston a couple years ago.
We got a simulator shuttle & a clipped 747
And have the Saturn V laid out indoors, along with I believe a Redstone rocket.

If you don't mind some more NASA photos in your thread:



Challenger/Columbia insignia in the module training room

Very nice place to visit.

I got to work out there a few years back, AT&T equipment building a ways out on the site. Inside was like being transported back in time. Magazines from the 60s in the lounge, rotary dial phones scattered around (though not in service), not a manned facility of course.

Pretty neat.

Great Pics! KSC is the only Orlando-area attraction that doesn't annoy the crap out of me these days.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGfourme:
Did you take the bus to the Apollo mission/Saturn rocket?

Not on this trip I plan on going again soon to see more. I think we only saw half of what was actually there.

Tony.

The IMAX theater is worth doing, did you get some Astronaut Ice Cream Dots? as hot as it is LOL

Next time you go, head up to Titusville to Dixie Cross Roads restaurant, order the Rock Shrimp, get the all you can eat if they have it and enlist the wife to help peel them LOL..

https://dixiecrossroads.com/

Join up with Valiant Air Command and get on the list of scheduled shows, a trip to see the place is great, and they have excellent air shows.

https://www.valiantaircommand.com/

Since you like aviation, get tickets for the Air and Space show at Sanford Airport in October.

https://airandspaceshow.com/

Thanks! I'll check it out. I love aviation!

Tony.

Great pics!

Last time I was at KSC was late 1985. I was living in Daytona and I went to visit a friend one morning and he tells me his dad has passes to attend a shuttle launch, do I want to go? Hell yes!

We were at the viewing area by the big digital clock, 3 miles from the launch pad. The timer counted down T-5, T-4.... We could see the orbiter main engines start up. A few seconds later, the solid boosters ignited. We could hear the dull roar from the main engines, then the sound of those boosters hit us.

That was by far the absolute loudest thing I've ever heard. I remember standing there holding my hands against my ears as hard as I could as the sound pounded against my chest.

There's a lyric in a Rush song called "Countdown" that goes: "A thunderous roar shakes the air like the whole world exploding". That's a very accurate assessment.

When you see it on tv, the shuttle looks like it slowly rises off the pad......in reality it jumps up and in what seems like a few seconds, it's gone out of sight.

If you ever get a chance to attend a rocket launch, do it! And bring ear protection.

My dad worked out there and I've been all over the place in most of the buildings and even in most of the Space Shuttles too (hush hush)

The size and scope of the VAB building is just hard to comprehend. Its so big that rain clouds have rolled in through the doors and its rained inside of the building.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:

The size and scope of the VAB building is just hard to comprehend. Its so big that rain clouds have rolled in through the doors and its rained inside of the building.

I used to fly for a marine biologist who had a coastal survey contract with the Dept. of Agriculture.

The weekly trip took us 1/4 mile offshore, 200' above seal level. We would look up at the top of the VAB.