Our friends Steve and Mary Bergman came to Kissimmee to visit from Colorado. We did this fascinating tour of the Kennedy Space Center which included a bus tour of Cape CanaveralGreat quote by a great man.The different rockets used during the space program.Steve and Mary posing in front of the Atlantis Booster rockets for the space shuttle. It’s enormous! The two brackets you see on the fuel tank are where the shuttle attaches.Jan and me in front of the Atlantis booster.
A mural of the Space Station
The control room where they launched the Apollo from. We sat through a re-creation of the day they launched the Apollo moon landing. Pretty cool and realistic!
A graphic showing the vast difference in size of the Saturn V to the space shuttle, the Statue of Liberty and the other previous rockets used early on in the space race.The second stage rocket engines of the Saturn V.Stage 3 of the Saturn V. It wasn’t possible to get the whole thing in one picture even with my wide angle lens!The moon rover, referred to as the”Off World Off Road Vehicle”!
The actual Apollo 10 capsule; notice it still has the burn markings from re-entry!The underside showing the extreme heat it withstood during re-entry. Amazing!This is the final destination for the Space Shuttle Atlantis!
Their space walking uniform.They also had a Hubble Telescope there; it was also put into orbit using the Space ShuttlePlaques for all 33 space missions
They had a very nice display of all the shuttles and a tribute to the two that were lost along with their crews; the Challenger and the Columbia. I don’t think anyone will forget either!
The funeral procession for the Challenger’s 7 Astronauts.The Shuttle Launch padAnother launch pad. Notice the huge towers? They are lightning rod towers to keep any possible lightning strikes on the rocket!The building that houses the shuttle prior to launch. The tallest single story building in the world!The platform that transports the shuttle from the building to the launch pad. It has 2 tracks on each corner for a total of 8. It traverses the 4 miles (I think) in about 8 or 9 hours! This thing has been in service for 50 years, built in 1965! It is getting refurbished for the Mars Program.This is one link of one tack; it weighs about 1000lbs.The crushed and compacted rock bed ( it’s 7 feet deep !) that the transport uses. They recently refurbished to in preparation for the Mars Program; the next step in space exploration!
Space X and Boing are both big participants and have facilities here.Even NASA has gators! They put fences around the launching areas with sides that curve out so the gators can’t climb them!Some parting shots as we left at the end of our visit. I thought this shot of the NASA logo with the moon in the background was fitting!Looks cool with the colored lighting!
boggy creek airboat tour
While Steve and Mary were here we also took this airboat tour, lots of fun!
They had their own petting zoo! NOT!!
One of their boats coming in called “Gator Transportator”, cute!And off we go! Smile Steve! (Oh yea, he is!) Notice the “Life Vests Under Seat” sign? I think they would be use less; the water is only a couple of feet deep plus there’s alligators!
Our first sighting; he was shy.
Snapping turtleA big boy!Kind of like an iceberg; mostly submerged, except this will kill you and eat you!Here’s lookin’ at ya!Love the Spanish moss on the trees!
These cattle didn’t seem too concerned about their hungry neighbors!
We saw this perfect beautiful shell just sitting on top of the sea grass! Something in my head said, “Don’t reach for it!”And this is why!Nice reflection!Heading back in; the 1 hour flew by, so much to see!They had a local indian on site to show and explain how their forefathers lived, hunted and survived in this swampy land.A stone spearheadA gator skin; I guess that was his last meal in his jaws!
He’s demonstrating the blow dart!Time for some Gator for lunch!
