I will warn you, the reader, that today's submission will be unusually long so bring a sammich!

Today I fulfill the dream of a lifetime, and that is no overstatement. I am visiting Kennedy Space Centre! I have a very vivid memory of looking up at the moon in the winter of 1971 and thinking there were people walking around up there.

One of my Brothers-in-law, Harry, who was a science teacher had given me a multi volume set of books about the space race, prolly a couple of years after that because they contained all 17 flights. They were above my reading level for a 9 or 10 year old, but I read and reread those books so often I remember they were dog eared.

All throughout my adult life I have watched every show and movie about the Apollo missions, read anything available, print and web. It has been a lifelong interest. And now, unbelievably, I was going to go to the source of all of that. Walk on the same hallowed ground, breath the same sacrosanct air!

My motel in Cocoa Beach is about 15 minutes away from Kennedy Space Center and even on the way I see many landmarks that I have read about and know intimately. I crossed a causeway bridge over the Banana River and I recall that they used to barge sections of the Saturn 5 up this waterway for stacking at the vehicle assembly building. I see the famous astronaut bar the Tackle & Bait Tavern, famous for being off-base so the trouble they got into there also stayed off base, at least in theory.

Approaching the KSC you see a mockup space shuttle complete with fuel tank and boosters peaking up over the trees. My pulse quickened and stayed at an elevated rate for the next 8 hours. I asked the nice lady at the gate how to maximize my experience, and minimize any FOMO and she suggested the Multi Day Discovery pass, complete with badge. I had allocated 2 days here, with an option to extend to a third. I wanted to be thorough!



A couple of years ago I went to Washington, DC to tour the Smithsonian Institute, which is made up of 19 galleries, museums and buildings plus there were a few exhibits I wanted to see outside of the SI. Even though I had allocated 5 days for tours I still couldn't see over half of them, and was always rushing. This time I wouldn't make the same mistake!

I put the occasion of getting the KSC badge up there in the top three ultra-nerd life experiences which also include being named a beta tester for Adobe, and being on the Smithsonian's mailing list, real signs that I am a Grown Up!

To get to the various pavilions you pass through an area called the Rocket Garden which shows various models starting at the Mercury program's Redstone and culminating at the Saturn 1B, little brother to the mighty Saturn 5. There is also the actual gantry way that the crew of Apollo 11 (first moon landing) walked on in order to board the spacecraft. I walked it, following in the footsteps of history.



Playing throughout the Rocket Garden is music that I can only describe as epic, soaring to new heights, overcoming adversity...........triumphing against all odds! You walk out of the Garden chest thrust forward, chin out ready to tackle the world! Then you come to the P.E.R.K. truck, Pastry Expresso Retrieval Kiosk, realize the futility of mankind, and deflate back down to reasonable levels.

I had about 90 minutes until my bus tour left so I headed straight for the Atlantis display. I don't personally endorse the term 'bucket list' but I do intend to see all 4 Shuttles. I saw Endeavor at the California Science Center outside of Los Angelos last year, coincidentally on a CSAPS shoot!

You enter the pavilion by passing under the life sized mockup of the External Fuel Tank with Solid Rocket Boosters.



You first walk into a stand-up theatre where you watch a short video about the design and construction of the Shuttle system. It was conceived and design started in 1969, even before we had successfully landed on the moon with the current Apollo program. Oh the audacity and unmitigated gall of it all, the confidence in our abilities, the confidence in prolonged congressional funding commitment!

How that contrasts with the cancellation of the Shuttle program; after the loss of the Challenger in 2003 NASA analyzed the current system for 2.5 years, trying to come up with a redesign that would mitigate tile damage during lift-off, without success. They weren't even going to resume launches at all until a congressional board decided that they would fulfill their commitment to the International Space Station project as the main transport for most heavy lift items. (They also did a couple of spy sats, and a Hubble mission too)

They returned to this task in 2005 knowing full well their days were numbered, however they didn't start even conceptualizing the next delivery system until nearly 2010. Because of that delay the Space Launch System won't even start with test shots until 2018 at the earliest! It did have the positive effect of developing commercial rocketry such as SpaceX and other heavy lift systems.

There was a Falcon 9 SpaceX test shot scheduled for 0050hrs tomorrow morning, a short drive to a Jetty near Cocoa Beach would be an awesome vantage point. I couldn't believe my lucky timing, a rocket launch and a night one at that! Sadly my Intel was hours old and came from unreliable sources; it was scrubbed by Elon Musk almost as soon as the rocket was erected at the launch pad due to telemetry issues in Texas. No relaunch date was set. Dang! Anyway, I digress.

We move from that theatre to another one where they do a multi image projection on 5 cut out screens, and then the back wall. Talking about the future (from the vantage point of 1980) of the Space Shuttles. It ends with a point of view of the shuttle coming right at you, very similar to this picture, then the screen turns transparent and you see the actual shuttle posed the same way, then the screen rolls into the ceiling and you can walk out into the shuttle pavilion.

The shuttle is posed at an angle, cargo bays doors open, CanadArm deployed, the pavilion offers vantage points from 2 levels, and 360 degrees of viewing. It is spectacular! The one at the CSC was on stands that allowed you to touch its bottom and see the sides, but not the top.



The grounds are at what I would consider to be 25% capacity which is good because it is just within my tolerance for crowds. US children go back to school mid-August and the effect of that is felt immediately at all attractions, mo'tel availability and holiday traffic.

There are a number of ancillary displays in conjunction with the shuttle; support equipment, CanadArm, landing gear, etc. These get a cursory once over, but the shuttle dominates the space and dominates my attention. The rocket nozzles on the back end are most impressive. I recently read an article about the development of these engines, and the various technical challenges and hardware failures the designers had to overcome were amazing. They had so many failures it is astounding they had the tenacity to carry on. In the end they exceeded the original design specifications.



From the display pavilion we went to a launch simulator. As you climb this switch backed ramp up many levels there are constant reminders about small objects, and video cameras and how you need to put them in lockers, behind and below you! I fit my small HD Handicam into my pocket, and slip through security, which is a disinterested young lady that looks like she could work for Delta! Luckily no yelling, at least not yet!

We all get a briefing on how it will work, that we'll get turned over, etc. Then we file into the seating area, put on our seat belts and wait. There is a short video intro, the capsule is tilted until we are on our backs, then the rumbling and shaking and loud noises begin mimicing launch. I am videoing the whole process.

I think I hear an additional voice added to the cacophony during the 'go for roll program', but can't be sure. There it is again, but we are at throttle up and I can't quite make it out. Finally at solid rocket booster separation, SRB Sep I hear The Voice, you in row 4 (me!) put away your camera or I will stop the ride. Ooops, busted, they are obviously watching us with a camera of their own! I get it, if I were to drop my camera now it would fall behind me onto people, but I wouldn't drop my camera, I'm Lou!

The ride runs for a few more minutes, fuel tank separation and then simulated weightlessness. Apparently real shuttle astronauts have ridden the ride and called it a very close approximation to an actual launch. The real thing lasts just 8.5 minutes in which the astronauts go from 0 to 17 500 mph, ground level to low earth orbit (120 - 600 miles).

As we exit the ride, the Deltayeller wannabe lady comes over and starts yelling at me, giving me **** for the video camera debacle. Oh, its just like the good ole days! I dismiss her with suitable Canadian aplomb and head over to the tour bus area. I am met with, literally, a gaggle of DYer, all of whom want to take my picture before I get on the tour bus. I manage to side step them all, and I do until I come up against Kalvin, the last line of defenses before the buses.

When I purchased my bus tour ticket, it came with a sticker that they are most eager to have you stick on your shirt. Most eager is an understatement, they are fanatical. Personally I am fundamentally and ideologically opposed to name tags in any form. Did I mention it is flourescent pink? Even as I am vehemently expressing my wish not to wear the sticker, Kalvin is peeling off the backing and preparing to apply it.

Finally I have to grab his arm, nicely mind you, and ask if he is listening to me. This causes a minor stir as I have forgotten to mention that Kalvin is what you might call, special. Or as Sam might say, Spwecial! He looks me right in the eye with surprise and I see he has but one lonely tooth in the middle of his gaping mouth, I am pretty sure I can take him if it comes to that, although his Deltayeller backup squad is now on red alert and pretty imposing! Eventually we compromise and he affixes the pink sticker to my tour program.

I get in line with the rest of the sheep awaiting to board the bus. As we are waiting the tour bus guide is walking down the line making small talk with all of the guests. When he gets to me he expresses surprise that I am not festooned with a large pink sticker, I show him it stuck on my program. He says that he has never seen that before and I must be a person of unusual stature to garner that type of compromise from Kalvin as he is a stickler (Hehe, stickler!!) for the placement of the pink name badges. I assure him I am not, other than being 6'5" may have played a role in the negotiations.

We board the bus and head off down the JFK Causeway towards the Kennedy Launch Complex. As we drive both the tour guide, on a mic, and the driver, also on a mic, make a huge deal about this Eagle's nest in a tree on the side of the road. It is:

• over 50 years old
• as big as a King sized bed
• weighs 700 lbs
• Eagles mate for life, etc.

From our perspective it is a big blob of tree branches, but, really, quite impressive. The tour guide speaks glowingly of how NASA owns 140 000 acres of swampland, but only uses 10 000 for operations, the remaining is maintained as a nature preserve and obviously a successful one based on this eagles nest. They don't mention the tons of pollutants created nor the acid rain that falls for days following any rocket launch, but such is the price of progress!

The guides and pretty much everyone you talk to at any level speaks with the kind of pride about their role at NASA as if you were speaking to John Glenn or Neil Armstrong. I found that attitude permeated every level of employee at the KSC. I can only describe it as a reluctant "Aw shucks, yeah I guess I am hero after all" kind of mentality. Endearing in an actual astronaut that sat atop 3.5 million pounds of propellant in an untested rocket built by the lowest bidder, but less so in the Deltayeller lady that cleaned up my lunch plates.

Eventually we get to the VAB, vehicle assembly building. Also know throughout the years as the vertical assembly bldg., and the space shuttle integration building, none of the other names caught on, everyone called it the VAB so finally NASA capitulated.The building is over 526' tall with doors 456' high. When the Saturn 5 rockets were wheeled out atop their launch crawlers there was just 6' of clearance. A guy was up there on a specially made gantry to snap the folded over lightning rod back into place once it had cleared the doors. I asked why they just didn't make the building 10' taller, or the Saturn 5 a couple of feet shorter? The stare I got back meant don't mess with NASA! The VAB is so voluminous it creates its own clouds inside, and sometimes even rains if the AC is not tuned precisely.



Verner von Braun, expatriated WWII German rocket scientist had such an ambitious vision about the Apollo and beyond launch program that he thought there would eventually be one launch a week. As such the VAB was built with 4 bays and 4 doors so there could be 4 vehicles under development at the same time. von Braun could have never envisioned congressional cutbacks though, the VAB has never held more than 2 vehicles simultaneously.

As immensely huge as it is and the pride its size engenders, they sorta sweep under the carpet that is it at least twice as big as it needs to be! It is big alright, is dominates the horizon for sometime before you even get there, it is so big that when you are eventually standing next to it, it doesn't even look that big. A few notes about the 'merican flag painted on the side;

• each of the red & white stripes are the width of a tour bus (sorry, don't know how wide a tour bus is!)
• the blue area is the size of an NBA basketball court
• each star is 6' across

When first built the VAB was the largest building in the world for interior volume, since then it has fallen to 6th place globally. Supply & logistical warehouses in Asia have displaced its rankings. Sadly the doors are closed when we are here, and tours are not allowed inside of it since 9/11.We are allowed into the LCC, launch control complex, essentially the operations center where the rows of technicians sit at rows of monitors during launches. The picture on the left shows the size of operations during Apollo launches, the picture on the right Shuttle launches. You can see what 20 years of down sizing and job combining has done. Especially because at least 2/3's of the room, the front 4 cubicles are leased to companies that have payloads aboard the vehicle.

As we move around the LCC we are at all time accompanied by 2 security guards, the tour guide mentions them several times, they are stout & staunch, stern & unsmiling and ready to taser you at a moments notice for straying off the path (in reality they are unarmed). Personally I think it is part of the schtick, the one in the ballcap who rode the elevator stood out to me because of a gigantic nevus growing on his left cheek under his eye.

I have a particular adversion to skin tags, bumps and moles in general. In specific, they gross me out, at the merest mention of anything out of the ordinary growing on me I have a lady who cuts them off for $75.00 a pop.

A dermatologist, not just a random lady!

The reason I speak of his ginormous mole is I am sure he sold me a corn dog and some waffle fries the next day at the Space Grill, same ballcap, same dermal anamoly. Either that, or the KSC cross training program is thorough!

We depart the LCC and drive down the road that runs adjacent to the crawler pathways and towards the famous launch complexes 39A & 39B. Sadly, although we come tantalizingly close, we don't actually go to the launch pads. That would have been a thrill of a lifetime. Instead we go to the automated tracking camera location about a mile away. This position was not manned for Apollo or Shuttle launches as it would be fatal..........acoustic energy. The sound waves at 200+ dB would literally shatter the cells in your body, you would liquify!

The 400 000 gallons of water dumped under the shuttle during launch is not for fire suppression as most people think, it is for sound absorption. The water absorbs the sound waves and converts the audio energy to heat, and therefore steam. 75% of the smoke plume on the ground is steam from this energy transfer. This is done to prevent damaging the vehicle from reflected audio energy while it is still close to the ground. Early Shuttle launches used only 300 000 gallons and still suffered tile damage during lift-off so the volume of water was increased.

We drive around for a bit more while the tour guide drones on about inconsequential trivia and eventually spits us out at the Saturn 5 display. First we watch a movie about its design and construction, initiated by JFK famous call to action. Audacious to say the least to put together a working launch system this complex in less than a decade, especially as evidenced by the current design cycle for the Space launch System that won't even get to the test phase in under 8 years.

The theatre doors spit us out to the design pavilion with the Saturn 5, commissioned for Apollo 18 which was cancelled. It used to sit outdoors on the grounds but the salt air was destroying it. You enter the display directly under the 5 main engines, the Rocketdyne F1 liquid fuel engines developing 1.5 million pounds of thrust each burning 11 000 lbs of propellants a second. The fuel pump alone was 55000 horsepower! Look up the story and the specs on Wikipedia, it is an amazing accomplishment. Derivatives of this engine will power the SLS rockets in the future.

The rocket is divided into sections based upon its stages, with sub assemblies lining the sides and also each of the mission patches. Notably the Apollo 11 moon landing badge did not feature the names of the astronauts and was the only one that did not. That was due to Neil Armstrong's typical 'Aw Shucks' attitude and he didn't want to single the crew out for special attention. Apparently his shipmates Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins didn't feel the same way and they did fade to obscurity in the shadow of Armstrong.

Also along the way there is a moon rock that you can touch, by awkwardly bending your arm and then your hand through a gap designed in the bottom of the box. I did touch it. I remember in Grade school a man came once with an aluminum case full of moon rocks that we could handle so this time made it twice I have handled the rare commodity. I also recently read an article in Wired about a NASA employee that tried to sell several pounds of moon rocks to a precious gem collector. Fortunately the gem collector had a conscience and reported him to InterPol almost immediately. The sale went through, but only as a sting to apprehend the salesman. Apparently he liberated the rocks from a filing cabinet of a NASA colleague, high security! Ballcap guy musta pulled corndog duty that day!

After the Saturn 5 display, you have to get on another bus to be taken back to the KSC main grounds. As we pass the Eagle's nest they once again slow down and make a big deal of it. The funny thing is the nest sits empty now, apparently the Eagles summer farther north where it is cooler. Smart eagles!

All too soon the park is closing at it is time to go, I stop on the way back to Cocoa Beach for cold salubrious beverages and ice. After sating my thirst I go back to the same Thai-Sushi-BBQ joint for another plate of Sashimi, honestly I could eat that everyday of my life! I also, for the first time, have unfiltered cold Sake, I did not know that the filtering process is what makes it clear, and this is how it is traditionally consumed.

After the Second World War it took Japan about a decade to return its Sake manufacturing standards back to pre war levels and in the interim they started serving it hot and filtered to minimize the effects of impurities.



I stagger back to my Mo'tel 6 room with a full tummy and cloudy head, look at my laptop, beckoning for some blogging then look at my pillow, beckoning for some sawing logging and the bed wins out. After a short nap I have a FaceTime date with the Lovely lady Eryn and then I am off to sleep and dream of tomorrow's adventure.