CodeRedR51
Premium
- 55,282
- United States
So some of you may already know I made the trip to Orlando for the GT Academy National Finals last week. It was a great time and certainly something I will never forget. Was really cool to finally meet everyone and put a face to the online names.
Anyways, that's for another thread. Fortunately I had a late flight out on Thursday, so I traveled to the airport early and picked up a rental car for the day (Altima Coupe) and headed out to Cape Canaveral. I had intended to make a few stops during the day, but ended up making only one as it pretty much took all day to see it. I'll try to put a little description on top of each picture so you know what you're looking at.
(If this isn't the right section for this thread, the mods are free to move it. I know there's several places it could go, but thought it would get the most attention in Off Topic.)
Here we go.....
Unfortunately this is the closest I would get to the ocean while I was there. I wanted to make a stop at Cocoa Beach but ran out of time. It was really windy that day, so it probably wouldn't have been that great of an experience anyway.
Arrived at the Kennedy Space Center complex around 11:20am. The admission lines were pretty long, so it took a while to get in. I wanted to purchase the tour package that went past the current shuttle launch pads, but it was sold out.
The next few photos are from the "Rocket Garden". I'm not sure if these are real rockets that they used in the past or just replicas. I thought the largest one was pretty big when I saw it, but I wasn't prepared for the Saturn V which I saw later....
Inside the small museum that houses some old memorabilia and items from the Mercury missions.
After that I went to the IMAX theater and watched the Hubble Telescope in 3D movie. Was pretty cool, especially when you're flying through space.
Then I walked around and checked out a few things.
Shuttle payload bay.
Shuttle Tiles.
This guy was in a small pond next to the Space Mirror.
Then I hopped on the Tour Bus for a short tour past the assembly building and Shuttle re-fresh complex. We arrived at the Apollo/Saturn V Center and it starts with a small presentation. Shows how we started the space program then we go into another room that has a make-shift launch command center set up that is completely automated with another presentation. All the instruments light up etc and follow along with the video.
After that the doors open and we head out into the room where a Saturn V rocket is kept. I don't think anyone around me (or me) were prepared for just how large this thing is. I couldn't count how many people said "Holy 🤬" or "Oh Wow!" when they saw it.
I would just like to say at this time that I have the utmost respect for everyone involved in the space program from the 60's. This thing is by far one of the greatest achievements of man kind and really goes to show what we are capable of building with the right resources. 
First rocket stage.
Second rocket stage.
Top of a fuel tank.
Crew capsule.
And here are some other miscellaneous photos.
Thanks for looking.
Anyways, that's for another thread. Fortunately I had a late flight out on Thursday, so I traveled to the airport early and picked up a rental car for the day (Altima Coupe) and headed out to Cape Canaveral. I had intended to make a few stops during the day, but ended up making only one as it pretty much took all day to see it. I'll try to put a little description on top of each picture so you know what you're looking at.
(If this isn't the right section for this thread, the mods are free to move it. I know there's several places it could go, but thought it would get the most attention in Off Topic.)
Here we go.....
Unfortunately this is the closest I would get to the ocean while I was there. I wanted to make a stop at Cocoa Beach but ran out of time. It was really windy that day, so it probably wouldn't have been that great of an experience anyway.
Arrived at the Kennedy Space Center complex around 11:20am. The admission lines were pretty long, so it took a while to get in. I wanted to purchase the tour package that went past the current shuttle launch pads, but it was sold out.
The next few photos are from the "Rocket Garden". I'm not sure if these are real rockets that they used in the past or just replicas. I thought the largest one was pretty big when I saw it, but I wasn't prepared for the Saturn V which I saw later....
Inside the small museum that houses some old memorabilia and items from the Mercury missions.
After that I went to the IMAX theater and watched the Hubble Telescope in 3D movie. Was pretty cool, especially when you're flying through space.
Then I walked around and checked out a few things.
Shuttle payload bay.
Shuttle Tiles.
This guy was in a small pond next to the Space Mirror.
Then I hopped on the Tour Bus for a short tour past the assembly building and Shuttle re-fresh complex. We arrived at the Apollo/Saturn V Center and it starts with a small presentation. Shows how we started the space program then we go into another room that has a make-shift launch command center set up that is completely automated with another presentation. All the instruments light up etc and follow along with the video.
After that the doors open and we head out into the room where a Saturn V rocket is kept. I don't think anyone around me (or me) were prepared for just how large this thing is. I couldn't count how many people said "Holy 🤬" or "Oh Wow!" when they saw it.
I would just like to say at this time that I have the utmost respect for everyone involved in the space program from the 60's. This thing is by far one of the greatest achievements of man kind and really goes to show what we are capable of building with the right resources. First rocket stage.
Second rocket stage.
Top of a fuel tank.
Crew capsule.
And here are some other miscellaneous photos.
Thanks for looking.
