Space Shuttle Atlantis

  You have to see this exhibit. Go there as soon as you can.

The Atlantis was the last mission of the shuttle. It's now in it's own building where you can see it up close. This was our second time to see it and I want to go back many more times. The Challenger and Columbia memorials are also in the building. There is more in the building but these photos are mostly of the Atlantis. I enlarged some so you can see more detail.

There are so many things to see and read, I could spend days there. Good thing we have annual passes. Google any subject about the Shuttles and you will find plenty of detailed information. 

STS-135 was the last flight of the Atlantis and the shuttle program.
It had 33 missions over a 26 year period.
See:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Atlantis

Dr. Max A. Faget was the Director of Engineering and Development. He proposed the Shuttle program to his engineers on April 1, 1969. This is the paper model he tossed into the room during that meeting.

After the very moving introductory movie, this is what you see when the curtain goes up.
You are right in front of it.

A view of just some of the famous LI-900 silica tiles, made from essentially very pure quartz sand. They keep the reentry heat from burning up the shuttle.

The thruster jets are easy to see. Remember the front windows when you see the photo from the Columbia shuttle near the bottom of this blog.

The cargo bay is fully open so you can see all the details

 

Cargo bay, arm and exit hatch for space walking

Shuttle engines.

Bottom of the shuttle.

Back view of the wing

This is a piece of the Challenger shuttle that exploded in 1986.
It's in the memorial area for the shuttles.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

This one is hard to look at. What were they thinking when this started to happen? The astronauts were right behind the frames of the front windows of the Columbia shuttle when it came apart over Texas on February 1, 2003. I remember watching the news interruption while eating breakfast that morning. Wreckage was scattered over a wide area of Texas.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster

One wall of the memorial area for the two shuttles

Kennedy Space Center - My Favorite Place

Kennedy Space Center is on Merritt Island between the main land and Cape Canaveral. The Indian River is on the west side and the Banana River is on the east side. Bridges cross over to the island and to Cape Canaveral. The Cape and Kennedy are actually two different areas. The Cape is an Air Force base and Kennedy is operated by NASA. The City of Cape Canaveral is nearby and a favorite place to board several large cruise ships.

There are plenty of books available that tell the story of the original Cape Canaveral site and how it was constructed. Also, plenty of books about everything at the Cape and Kennedy Space Center. Google the Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttles, and Cape Canaveral. You will find plenty of online reading material.

Kennedy Space Center is something you must see. If you are in Florida or if you make a special trip just to see it, you will probably stay for at least two days. Also visit Huntsville where the Space Camp is located. We were there three years ago and it is also a great place to see. I always want to stay longer at Kennedy so we have annual passes so we will visit several times while we are here for the winter. We were there two years ago for our first visit. 

After taking tours of the old launch sites and seeing what they created in the early 1960's, I realized that I should have worked there. Lot's of tube type electronics back in the 1960's and I still remember how to work on tube equipment. I wish I had known more about it after high school because I may have ended up there. The equipment they built 58 years ago is amazing. It is the most interesting place I have every visited. 

Here are a few of the many photos from our visit on January 28th, the day after the Grissom Memorial. My next post will be from January 29th and Space Shuttle Atlantis. 

Vertical Assembly Building (VAB). It really is not leaning, just my camera lens. You can't tour this building now but the shuttles with the huge fuel tank and booster rockets were completely assembled in vertical position in this building, now used to assemble other rockets.

Another view of the assembly building, the tallest single floor building in the USA.

This is Launch Control next to the assembly building. After the rocket launches, Houston takes over during the mission. This building is three miles from the launch pad to provide a safe distance from the launch pad in case the launch vehicle should explode on take off.

Launch tower for the Mars missions, an Atlas V-541 rocket. There has been an unmanned test launch. No matches allowed around that fuel tank!

This was a launch platform for the Shuttle. It is being modified for other rockets.

This is one half of the huge Crawler vehicle that delivered the Space Shuttles and now other rockets from the Vertical Assemble Building to the launch pads.

This is the long pathway that the Crawler uses to deliver rockets to launch pad 39. You have probably seen this on TV prior to launches. The Crawler is parked on the left and the Assembly building is in the center. The crawlerway is a two sided roadway like an interstate highway. The crawler weighs 6,000,000 pounds so the crawlerway is a special roadway to hold that weight.

SpaceX now leases launch pad 39A.

The crawlerway leading up to launch pad 39A.

The rocket end of the Saturn V rocket on display at the Apollo/Saturn  Center at Kennedy. This is a separate building near the launch pad 39 complex. The entire rocket is suspended from the ceiling so you can walk under it, quite a sight. The Saturn V sent astronauts to the Moon. You have to stand under this to realize how huge this is. A NASA bus takes you out to the building. There is another Saturn V at Huntsville, Alabama. 

Another view of the first stage of the Saturn V rocket.
The people look small compared to the rocket.

This is the second stage, basically a fuel tank.

The Moon Lander

The third stage with a single rocket engine to send it out of orbit and toward the Moon.

This is the Lunar module that landed on the Moon

Here is an Apollo command module attached to the Lunar Module under it.

A command Module hatch from the inside.

The real Apollo 14 command module.

Our friends Barry & Donna from French Lick, Indiana, with us at Apollo 14.  We have known them for thirty five years. We stayed with them two days at Orlando and traveled to Kennedy for the Gus Grissom memorial plus two more days at Kennedy.

Gus Grissom - Astronaut

Maybe you recognize his name. Gus was from Mitchell Indiana near Spring Mill State Park. He died on January 27, 1967. I was in high school when it happened. I probably did not pay close attention to his death at that age but I knew it happened. Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were in the Apollo-1 command module for a pre-launch test Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The hatch was sealed and the interior contained 100% oxygen. A spark from somewhere ignited the oxygen and all three died instantly. It set the Apollo program back for some time while the cause and changes were made. 

For more details about the Air Force Base., use this link:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral_Air_Force_Station 

Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Grissom for history of Gus and the space program.

I took these photos last Friday at the 50th anniversary memorial at Launch Pad 34 were they died. The remains of the launch pad can be seen in the photos. Many of the original launch pads have been dismantled as they became obsolete. 

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is actually a separate property from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island. You can take a tour to see many of the old launch pads at the Cape when you visit Kennedy Space Center. 

Launch Pad 34 where it happened.

About 300 family, friends, military and NASA officials attended the 50th memorial.
The memorial is held every year just prior to the exact time of the fire which was January 27, 1967 at 6:31pm.

These are special made heat resistive bricks that pave the area around the launch pad.
If you watch the launches, you can understand why these are needed. 

These are the two flame deflectors that route the exhaust away from the launch stand. They were moved into place on rails. These are the originals for launch pad 34. You can see the bricks on the ground. 

For more details about Launch Pad 34, use this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral_Air_Force_Station_Launch_Complex_34

Looking up through the launch stand.
It was used from October 1961 through October 1968 to launch Saturn 1 and 1B rockets.

Lily Koppel from the New York Times was present and published this story the next day. Lily is the author of the book "Astronaut Wives" and was the basis for the TV series last year.
See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/apollo-1-memorial.html?_r=0

Several speakers were heard before the 6:31pm moment.

The memorial begins. You can see launch Pad 37 in the background.The International Space Station flew overhead during the memorial.

Bagpipes

Taps

Mrs Grissom and Gus lived in Mitchell Indiana and moved to Houston, TX when Gus was an astronaut. She still lives in Houston.

Merry Christmas from Florida

Christmas in Florida does not feel like Christmas when you have lived in Indiana for 65 years. The forecast here is 85 degrees today, sunny and somewhat humid. Air conditioners running on Christmas? 

Merry Christmas everyone

Where we are

Live Oaks with Spanish Moss are everywhere plus lots of palm and pine trees

Adelaid Lake near our motor home

Florida At Last

We arrived at our Adelaid Shores winter site at 6:00 pm after a nine hour drive from Hilton Head Island. Some daylight until 5:45 pm was helpful and somewhat better than Indiana which is probably dark by 5:15 pm. It's still difficult to back in in near darkness. We went from near freezing with jackets to sweating while setting up on site with biting mosquitoes. Our air conditioners are running instead of the diesel furnace. 

We can take this weather OK! Now we need a Christmas tree.

The Jeep towed fine but it caused problems when disconnecting because it would not engage the transfer case. After 15 minutes of aggravation, it's finally in gear with no error codes. It appears to be a procedure problem. There are 21 steps to connect up for towing and 17 steps to disconnect and get it ready to drive again. One wrong move and we will be calling the roll back again. What a pain. 

Crossing the state line on I-95 with orange barrels (yes road work is everywhere in December).

Adelaid Shores with lot 298 marked if you can see it. US 27 is the highway to the right.

More to follow after we get rested up.

Hilton Head

We left North Carolina on Thursday (Jeep in tow again, not on a rollback) and arrived at Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort Thursday afternoon. Our friends Bob and Jan own a lot so they suggested we stop in. We rented the lot next to them for three days. The entire area was damaged by the hurricane. Bob said there were 500 trees that suffered damage in the resort. Most of it has been cleaned up and now the sun shines through the remaining trees. The island still has piles of brush and logs along the roads but everything is about back to normal. Crews are still hauling these piles out, seven days a week. If you wanted firewood there is enough to supply all of the southeast states for the winter. The live oaks seemed to survive well. 

Most of the trees are green, making the island look like summer instead of the dead of winter we are used to up north. Temps dropped as we arrived due to the cold front that was following us as we moved south. Low last night was about 40 degrees, way too cold. Tomorrow, Sunday, we are heading to Avon Park, Florida, our site for the winter. The day time temperatures there are low 80's and low 60's at night. 

Next stop: Florida.

I-26 south bound in SC

Bob and Jan Oakley, formally from Pennsylvania, are full timers like us. We met them in Red Bay when our motor home and theirs were both being assembled. 

Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort lot 191 where we stayed for three days.

There are about 400 lots in the resort. You can purchase one for yourself,
with prices starting at about $60,000.

Debris along the roads on the island waiting for pickup by crews
with large trucks and cranes mounted on the truck.

The light house at Harbor Town on the south end of the island. 

The harbor is empty, crews are repairing docks.

This cruise boat is still operation.

The live oaks are still intact.

Flowers in December!