CCAFS/KSC

Mercury 7 memorial and Cape Canaveral Light house.






Got your attention? Or do you hate acronyms and want to ignore this?

Anyway, we were privileged to accompany our daughter and son-in-love, Sheila and Michael on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station/Kennedy Space Center. The tour was for families of employees and both of them work at KSC.

We left our place pretty early as it is a 1-1/2 hr drive over there and we wanted to be at their house at 9 am. We made it too. Stopped to grab Micky

D's breakfast and hit the road. They were ready for us when we arrived, so we put traveling dog in the back yard and left. (TM doesn't mind their back yard as there is plenty of shade and privacy.)

Our first stop was the museum. Traveling man was pleased to see one of his old Hound Dog missiles on display, along with other, larger missiles.

( IT DOES HURT TO SE IT IN SUCH SAD SHAPE THOUGH) They had an exhibit of the type of windows on the first control rooms built when firing missiles. The glass was about 2 feet thick and was in layers. We saw the capsules that held the space monkeys. Also one like John Glen used in the first earth orbit. Tiny, tiny spaces. The also had an engine from a German WW II V2, and when we got to the Atlas and Delta buildings it was amazing how much like this little thing they look, only much larger.

We moved on to some abandoned launch pads. The one where Grissom, Chaffee and White died in a fire before launch is set up as a memorial. There is one small plaque attached that, accordin

g to Michael, no one has ever taken credit for installing. I can't remember the exact wording, but it is sort of a thank you for those who trained and then gave their lives in the exploration of space. The plaque installed by the government is much larger and fancier. Usually there is a wreath set out by the plaque, but someone obviously fell down on the job, because all there was there was an old wreath form and some dead flowers. This launch pad was utilized for all of the moon launches even after the disaster.

On the left
is the UNofficial
plaque

We went into the hangers where there were the components of Delta and ATLAS missles ready to be put together. Those things are h-u-g-e! No pics, since they weren't allowed, we couldn't even tale cell phones into the buildings. Delta's and Atlas's are the ones that Michael lauches. He gave us lots of info, but I am not sure how much I am supposed to tell, so - too bad if you were waiting for secrets. One of the neatest bits of information I picked up was the fact that the engine on the first stage of the Atlas is in fact manufactured in Russia and then delivered on an Antonov 124 directly to the cape.

We headed out to see the 2 shuttles on their pads, but (amazingly) the line-up was so long, we decided we couldn't get there before they closed the display. We opted to visit the VAB (vertical assembly building). Yike, I only thought those Delta's were huge, they would be dwarfed in this

place! Absolutely cannot describe the impression this man-made structure makes. But when you look at the picture of the outside, each stripe on the flag is as wide a standard lane for traffic. And the camera did not have a wide enough lens to show the floor and ceiling at the same time, but you'll get the idea from the inside shot.

We then went to another area (sorry I can't keep up with all the names, numbers, et c.) where we had a good, fairly close view of the 2 shuttles. (No pics, the batteries had died in the camera by this point, bad planning on TM's part.)

Guess I could go on and on, mostly because I was so impressed with the place. We did go by the building where Sheila works, but we weren't allowed in that one - oh, well. We did see a working control room like the one Michael is in when they are launching. Can't believe how many people it takes to be sure a launch goes. Wow. (No cameras or Cell Phones in there either.)

Many of the things we saw and places we were are not ever allowed public access, so don't go taking a KCS tour and expect to see them. We're Special!

It was a super, great day and we are so thankful that our kids took us to see it all. They make great tour guides.

God Bless