Uncle Jim is Our Hero - 35 Miles

Today was our big day at the Kennedy Space Centre. And what a day!

The place is fantastic and we had a truly wonderful time. Charleen and I have always been followers of Space exploration so to see it all layed out was a memorable day and will always remain a highlight of our trip.

Highlights of the day were:-

• Space Station 3D Imax
• Bus ride out to the launch pads
• Saturn V Rocket display
• Shuttle Launch Experience ride
• Generally, the pride the staff have for the local wildlife.

Other than that we'll let the pics speak:-

Looking across the Indian River from Titusville

Canals like this line all the roads at Kennedy and are full of alligators. Can you see it?

Astronauts quarters. This is where we see them occasionally on TV entering the bus.

The huge Vehicle Assembley Building (VAB)

The future - Pad 39A - no longer used for Shuttles but slated for the new Constellation program.

The three towers are lightning rods.

The VAB is THIS big. To give a size comparison, each stripe on the flag is the width of a road lane.

Orbiter houses. The grey door has an extra cutout for the tailplane.

Pad 39A up close. The orbiter enclosure is still in place.

Shuttle with orbiter Discovery on Pad 39B awaiting launch on Aug 24. Orbiter is on the other side and fully enclosed.

Huge Liquid Oxygen storage for fuelling the large External Tank just before launch.

Black vultures gather in the park near the SaturnV display building. They do this every day.

Apollo Launch control centre. All the actual consoles are preserved for the Saturn V display

This thing is BIG

Uncle Jim was on the Apollo 8 flight (first in lunar orbit) as well as Apollo 13. He did Gemini 7 and Gemini 12 as well.

Apollo 12 Capsule is preserved in the "Treasures Room"

Current day - test room for the ISS-bound shuttle payloads

Display Orbiter