Day 5 - Kennedy Space Centre

This morning I drove over to Kennedy Space Centre which is about 50 minutes west of Orlando on the east coast of Florida. It's right next to Cape Canaveral which is the army base next door. Kennedy is NASA (National Aeronautical and Space Administration) a civilian branch of the US government and the launch site for everything from the Apollo missions to the current shuttle program. Cape Canaveral falls under the US Department of Defence where they launch satellites and probably other things I'm not going to ask questions about.

After doing some research before leaving I lined up a day when the Astronaut Training Experience was running which is a half day of playing astronaut, trying out some of the simulators and as a group going through a mock mission. It's definitely a highlight of the trip. Somehow I managed to get drawn the position of Commander, in charge of the shuttle and having the responsibility of landing the simulator and bringing everyone back to earth safely. Although slightly nervous for my crew I quickly learnt that being younger and experienced at video games actually put me in good stead.

After successfully completing the mission we all had a go at experiencing two of the training simulators they had, one making you feel close to zero gravity via system of pullies and weights, the other a multi-axis trainer simulating being on a shuttle hurtling in all directions out of control.

We then had the chance to sit down and talk to an astronaut working for NASA. Samuel Durrance (Ph.D.) gave us a brief overview of his past (Been to space twice as part of the Astro missions). As a research scientist he was familiar with the equipment and experiments that were to be conducted so NASA brought him onboard as an astronaut to go up as part of the crew. It was fantastic to hear his stories first hand.

Once the session finished I headed up to the official visitors centre for Kennedy and went on a bus tour around the site stopping off at a lookout to the launch pads and the control centre for the Apollo missions (Moon landing) which has been kept for visitors to see as pictured here.

Today was definately the highlight of Orlando. Not only because I'm a techo and enjoy seeing this stuff, but because its a place that has some amazing history that you get to see. I remember being in Grade 4 at primary school celebrating the 25th aniversary of the moon landing so I wasn't even around to see it unfold. I'm imagining if you grew up in the late 60's seeing the space race first hand this place would be facinating.