From Alligators to Space Shuttle --- and more Alligators

Pack up and move on up the road to Titusville, FL
Jan 27th - Got a good start - no issues - leave by 9:00AM
Take #27 south to South Bay, turn east onto #80, through Bell Glade, and then turn north along Lake Okeechobee on # 441 for about 25 miles to Port Mayaca, and then east on #76 along the ST. Lucy canal for about 25 miles to join I 95 north. Stay on I 95 for about 100 miles till we turn off onto #46 and into the Cape Kennedy KOA in 1 mile. Check in and extend stay to two weeks, a little confusion there to get it all organized. A couple of returns to the office, but all works out well. Our site, #120, is under a very large oak tree, at least I think it is oak. It must be over one hundred feet high and a base of a 4 foot diameter.

Man, how I would like to get a chunk of one of these for turning!!! Will continue the search. Somewhere there must be some that have been cut down and are just cut up in pieces just waiting for someone to pick them up!
Jan 28th - Took a drive down through Mims and Titusville today to see if we could choose an optimum place to see the space shuttle blastoff on Feb 7th at 4:39AM from. Found quite a few places along the beach where the view of the space launch are is very good although almost 12 miles away.



Not sure how many people would be out there to view it, or how crowded the area will be, but found a cuople of parks where we should be able to park the jeep right up to the beach with unimpeded view from right in the vehicle. It is recommended to be there at least 2 hours previous to blastoff so it would be nice to be able to stay in the jeep until time.
Then we stopped and checked out a Space Park - another potential viewing site - lots of signs and Space info there - lots of photos!!

Drove west on highway 50 out into the swampland of the St. Johns wildlife Reserve. Checked into some details of another airboat ride
$35 for an hour with lots of animals and crocs to see. We may concider that another day!
Jan 29th - Went to NASA today. Fairly strict security at check in. I realize I had my jack knife in my pocket, so had to walk back to the jeep to leave it there, at least a half mile across their very large paved parking lot. They did search Denices purse too. Once, after purchasing $59 tickets, and inside we had a great time. (Tickets are for 2 days, but only one bus tour) Had only an hour before catching a bus tour of the complete facilities.

They took us out to Pad 39A where the shuttle is already in place. We were able to take some very good pictures.




Also took us to Pad 39A where the new concept launch vehicle Aries and cargo Transporter will be launched from, if Congress approves the expenditure. The Launch system is already in construction, but still need final approvals before it can become a reality. I'm sure millions have been spent already!!. Here is the launch pad and concept vehicle. More like the old capsuls, but more intuned to the requirements of tomorrows missions.


Latest Space Shuttle Schedule:
Date: Feb. 7
Mission: STS-130
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 4:39 a.m. EST
Landing: Feb. 19 - 11:14 p.m. EST
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the final connecting node, Tranquility Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the International Space Station
Had a very good guide, and he gave us detailed description of everything we saw. We plan on watching the launching on the morning of the 7th at 4:39AM from the beach along the Indian River at Tutisville. You can buy tickets to watch from the causeway to the island, but the guide said that there were 5000 tickets available for $60 a pop, but when they went on sale, online, two weeks ago, they were sold out in 90 seconds!! He also said if there is a delay in the launch, and you have to leave, that you get to keep the ticket as a Great Momento of this launch!!
Bus tour ended at Apollo Saturn IV Center where the were the complete Saturn IV rocket is kept for viewing. This site still has to complete Control Room with the original consuls that were used with the Opollo launches. Then a bus took us back to the Visitors center. There I took a tour through the shuttle Explorer. Amazed at the actual size of this machine!!


Need to return tomorrow to see the rest ---
Jan 30th - Back to NASA today by about 10:30AM

Started with the Blast Off Simulation Program. You are strapped into a module, supposedly in the cargo Bay of a shuttle, and then you experience the Blast off as you would in real life. The astronauts claim this is as close as you can get to the real thing, without being there.
Following this we took some more pics of the Shuttle Discovery and then did a walk around through the park and over to the "Mirror Wall", a memorial to all those who have lost their lives in the search for space exploration. This site is a huge slab of marble with all the names engraved on it, in a setting with a lake around it. And guess what? More Alligators wandering around and enjoying the warm weather as we were as tourists!
Then to two Imax movies with the 3D glasses. One was blasting off into space orbit, and the assembling the Space Station together. Fabulous experience, especially with the 3D. You are right there with the crew, and feel you can just reach out andhelp them with some of their tasks. The second movie, although I did not feel it as good as the first was a trip to the moon, but it still was very good. Surprisingly, the day was starting to come to an end, and we still needed to stop at the "Astronaut Hall Of Fame" back on the mainland. But first just had to stop at the "Space Gift Shop", the very largest of its kind in the world, with all the Space Momentos that you could imagine. Now the $59 ticket we purchased yesterday, covered all the rides and entries that we took in, but, of course the Gift Shop was designed to entice a fair amount of cash out of you, to help pay for your two day adventure. AND THEY DID!!!
One of the themes that was quite evident was that of cost cutting initiatives for NASA. At one time after John F. Kennedy announced the push for the moon, the budget for NASA was 7% of the total US Budget. Today it is 1/2 of 1%. So they stress that the whole visitor facility is self supporting, with no moneys from tax payers being spent.
We then left the Visitors Center and returned to the mainland 6 miles to the west and went to the "Astronaut Hall of Fame".

Also covered with our initial entry fee. Here more rides, a simulated roller coaster with 3D vision in front of you, Simulated Shuttle landing with you at the controls, lots of space type experiments, a movie with the screen being a large sphere representing the earth or the moon or other planets. This was just opened and we were the first to see it! Really neat! Also a large part dedicated to past austronauts and to those that have given the ultimate sacrifice to the Space Program. Another Great Day completed. Something you just do not want to miss if you are within the area!!