Kennedy Space Center with Anders

Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Brrrr  It is very windy today and much colder.  Not sure what the temperature got too but a jacket sure felt good today!!!  There are terrible snow storms up north and we get this as a result.  Such a shame since the whole week is now supposedly going to be cold and this is when Anders is here.  Oh well, we certainly found plenty to do today to keep us busy.

After breakfast at the Quality Inn where we stayed last night (Anders had 2 whole waffles, sausage and scrambled eggs plus 2 glasses of juice-you would think we'd been starving him), we drove over to the Kennedy Space Center.  It sure has expanded its offerings since the last time we were here with our kids when they were young - course that is probably 40 years ago.

We wondered through the Rocket Garden where we could get up close and check out 8 different rockets that have been used in the space program.

There were also a couple of spots where Anders could crawl into capsules and see how he fit.  Ken joined him one of those times.

Then we went to the IMAX theater to watch the Beautiful Planet 3D film.  It was probably the best 3D film I've ever seen and certainly gave us a new appreciation of earth.  There were many many views of the planet from a space ship as well as great documentation of life in the International Space Station.  It really was informative.

After that we walked over to the huge store just to see what kinds of thing they offered.  Anders was enthralled with all of the Lego sets and the dune buggy outside as well.

 We found a shirt for him that we hoped Jack Lousma would autograph when we saw him at lunch.  While shopping, Anders ran into a good friend of his from his neighborhood!!!!!!  Now that was certainly a surprise.  They too had been at Epcot yesterday and were heading to Universal tomorrow.

Then we were off to a buffet lunch with Jack Lousma, an astronaut dating back to the 1970 and 80s.  He was in space for 59 days in 1973 for the Skylab 3 mission conducting over 300 experiments, doing space walks, and performing lots of other tasks.  Then in 1982 he was the commander of a Columbia launch.  He shared pictures of some of his activities in space and told stories about his adventures

then answered a variety of questions from the audience. Afterwards we got this picture taken with him

We then headed over to the buses for our trip to the Apollo/Saturn Center.  It was a long long wait but finally we got aboard one and enjoyed the commentary from our driver on our trip over.  We passed many significant buildings used for building various parts of the missiles and rockets including one very very tall building with a door on the side that opened so the huge booster could be brought out after it was built and rolled to the launch site.  

The huge moving platform that carries it was also outside the building so we could see it too.

Besides all the neat space stuff, she pointed out wildlife along the way as all of this center is built on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  She said there are at least 600 alligator living in the refuge and at least 6 bald eagle nests are in the area including one that we went by close enough we could even see one eagle sitting on a branch nearby the nest.  We also saw wild pigs running along the side of the road and several alligator out sunning near the ditches filled with water.

At the Apollo/Saturn Center, we saw a huge rocket hanging from the ceiling that filled the area from one end to the other because it was so immense.  

It was just amazing to see and think of the astronauts being brave enough to crawl into a tiny spot at the very top of all those fuel tanks and take off.  A huge model on the floor gave you a sense of the massiveness to the size of the humans riding on top.

Among other things there were a capsule with 3 "men" dressed for flight inside giving an idea of just how tight the set up was (and Jack had already told us how hot it got).  Then we watched the news reel of the moon landing including all the pauses because of being out of communication, the problems with the landing vehicle and the tension felt by everyone.  It sure brought back memories of that fateful day.  I still laugh because Ken had insisted we had to get a new TV and that it had to a color TV for watching this event.  When it happened it was in black and white.  :-)

We also stepped out side and went over to the bleachers where observers of take offs can sit.  We could look across the water and see the launch site with a rocket in place.  It was suppose to have gone off early this morning but all of this strong wind kept it from happening.

When we returned, we picked up our pictures taken with Jack Lousma and went to the space shop where he was autographing things.  Again we faced a long line but eventually we got to him and he not only signed the pictures but Anders new space shirt too.  While we waiting in line, Anders happened to look down on the first floor and saw his friend again but he was just leaving so he couldn't run see him again.

We then had time to visit the Heroes and Legends Hall of Fame and see the short 3 D film about flying honoring the past and looking forward to the future.  On the first floor they had a hall with all kinds of pictures of past astronauts.  It was amazing to see how many there have been.

Sadly it was time for the place to close and we hadn't gotten to everything that was available but we had seen alot and were ready to head for home - a good two hour trip.  We could play games for a short time but then it got dark so we just chatted and relaxed in the back seat while Ken drove.  We did finally make a stop at a Bob Evans Restaurant and had a big breakfast meal for dinner.  Anders managed to eat 2 huge pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage!  

He enjoyed a chat with his family on the phone as we completed the trip.  I played one game of King's Corners with him and then it was time to settle down for the night.  So while Ken read to him I through everything in the washer so we'd have our warm clothes to wear again tomorrow.  Then we were off to bed too.