To Florida... and Beyond!

Kennedy Space Center

Today was a lonnnng day which all started about 7.45am when we left for Kennedy Space Centerrr arriving around 8.55am . I wanted to go back here as I haven't been in over 25 years and Gabby wanted to go and for us to take the kids to something that's real and not Disney! How impressed we were with our day...

The place is by the sea around an hour away from where we're staying (I guess you can tell that from subtracting the two times above, ahem). The visitor's complex was very nice indeed with a real space shuttle (Explorer) and rocket boosters near the front to have a good gander at. Wifey and I both did the shuttle launch experience which was rather a good simulation (apparently) of shuttle take off. My cheeks and 4 chins were wobbling like mad as we 'lifted off' then somehow felt almost weightless as we 'floated above earth' - OK so this is a bit Disneyfied but it was simulating something that is very much real.

After this we took a stroll in the Rocket Garden and let the children loose in the play area since we somehow managed to miss both IMAX films (oops). Before long it was time for lunch... with a REAL ASTRONAUT (did I mention that 23 times??). The food was good ( I ate these interesting potato things with mini viennas inside - these, I am told, were corn dogs - healthy? I think not) and the room was relatively intimate with tables of 8 people totalling approx 70. A lady called Wendy Lawrence who had not just flown in the shuttle (4 times) but also piloted it twice, I guess you could say she was a bonafide astronaut because she was! She spoke of her training, space flight and got asked the usual questions about weightlessness and doing a poo in space but it was all so fascinating. After this we got to have a photo with this person - who was a pleasure to meet and something Mrs R and myself will remember for a long time to come.

The children were interested too but probably didn't appreciate the magnitude of this encounter and how few people get to go to this place / meet someone who has been into space.

There was also a memorial to those who lost their lives such as the Challenger and Columbia crews.

We then took a 'close up' bus tour where we saw a couple of launch pads, the crawler / transporter vehicle (weighs 18,000,000 ibs fully loaded with launch pad and shuttle) and the vehicle assembly building (largest doors on earth that take 4 hours to open / concrete floors are 8 feet thick / foundation piles of about 160 feet etc etc http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/vab.html)

Finally we went into the actual mission control room from the Apollo VIII mission in 1968 where they simulated the whole launch experience which included all the real footage sounds and even the windows vibrated. We then moved into the new building that housed Saturn V - the biggest machine man has ever made with 2,000,000 processes / parts that had to work at once for this launch to happen - wow!

I know some people aren't the biggest fans of such things and personally I've not been bothered about many a shuttle launch , however, after today I now feel the need to keep track of these missions.

Geeky facts: The shuttle will only fly eight more times (five in 2009 and three in 2010)and then they are going to start sending astronauts in capsule rockets again, firstly back to the moon, and then to Mars by 2025. At least that's the plan.

And there ends my space-tastic time, it really was ever so good and was somehow an emotional experience for us grown ups - both of us this time! Totally fascinating.

We finished off going to Tony Roma's (on planet Earth) for dinner where unfortunately it wasn't Monday when I could have taken advantage of their 'Unlimited Slab' of ribs, mmmm unlimited. I managed though with a full rack (Gabby had two) of BEEF ribs. Rather tasty they were too.

That's about it for today - and I'm sure we'll soon be back to the pretend fun of Disney etc soon - still need to revisted a parade, ride or two. And still haven't done Universal yet.

Now off to pick beef rib out of my teeth, night all.