NASA

The Kennedy Space Center

In January of 2000 I went to Florida on a business trip. A good friend of mine had recently moved to the Orlando area and one of the days I was there we went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was GREAT!! I have to go back and see it all again. They've done a marvelous job all around- plenty of information and hands-on opportunities.

There are four main areas- the Space Center itself (left) and the three destinations of the tour bus; the LC 39 Observation Gantry, the Apollo/Saturn V building, and the International Space Station.

The Space Center complex has got a bunch of things- a couple IMAX type theaters, (we saw a pretty cool 3D movie about a space habitat), the Astronaut's Memorial, numerous exhibits (I suppose they change from time to time), the Space Shop, and my favorite- the Rocket Garden. I was particularly impressed that everything had appeal to all ages- they did a great job of balancing goofy stuff for the kids and information for space-o-philes like me.

Click Here for a virtual tour of the Rocket Garden

Here's a tip: Do the tour first. It's supposed to take about 3 hours but everything closes at 6. We didn't start until 2:30 and ended up getting rushed out of the Saturn V Center- and let me tell you that is THE thing to see! Do that first- you should be plenty of time to putz around the other stuff. It's all good- get there right when it opens, load up on souvenirs for "other" people at the Space Shop, and stay to the last minute wandering around the Rocket Garden or other exhibits.

The Tour

The first stop of the tour is the LC 39 Observation Gantry. You can see all the launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building, and the crawlers that move the rockets around. It was incredibly windy the day we were there- but the Endeavour was on pad 39-A ready for STS-99, the 97th shuttle mission, which made the wind seem not so bad.

The second stop is the Apollo/Saturn V Center. They used to have an old Saturn V rusting on the ground outside the main complex- then somebody had the idea to clean it up and put it on display. Fantastic, utterly fantastic. Too much to talk about here, click the emblem to visit my Apollo/Saturn V Center page!

The last stop is the International Space Station. They have some modules you can walk through, and you can observe people working on the actual thing (if you go during work hours). Well, I don't have a single picture of it. I understand the logic of the ISS being after the Saturn V- past to future and all that- it's a huge letdown nevertheless. Kind of like how I've felt about the Space Program itself- over 30 years ago there were people on the moon! That's right, the MOON! But what have we done since? Put satellites in orbit so corporations can bombard us with commercials, that's what!!

Ranting and Raving

With blood, sweat, tears, and brain-juice we bridged 240,000 miles of cold vacuum to put men on the face of the airless moon- a place where the temperature difference between sunlight and shade is almost 300 degrees (and I'm talking Celsius). Then we brought them back- hurtling towards the Earth at 24,000 MPH- for a safe landing in the ocean. It is difficult to imagine the extremities of the conditions on the moon and in space- to understand how daunting the challenges truly are. No environment on Earth is in the same order of magnitude in hostility: Mt. Everest, Antarctica- phooey- they are nothing compared to space! In space not only is there no oxygen, there is no air! It's not just cold out- a parka won't do you any good against near absolute zero! If something goes wrong, the only question is will you freeze before you explosively decompress?

And yet, with strength of will, determination of spirit, and creativeness of mind it was done.

It's amazing just to think about- to have proof of what mankind can achieve with coordination and cooperation. I sometimes try to imagine what it must have been like for Neil Armstrong in the final seconds before the launch of Apollo 11. On his back, in the command seat of a capsule perched above rocket fuel enough to equal an atomic bomb...

But I don't think he cared about that- I imagine he felt the eyes and thoughts of his companions, who knew he would be the first. I think he felt the enthusiasm of the hundreds and thousands of engineers who had built his craft to endure the rigors of space, I believe he could feel the excitement of the hundreds of thousands of people involved with the Apollo missions. I'll bet he could almost see the expanding radius of attention and anticipation from everyone in the nation- everyone in the world- centered on his rocket. All of the energy of mind and purpose, all of the interest and imagination of the entire human race- all flowing to Florida, to the cape, to pad 39-A, up the mighty Saturn V to the tiny capsule and, ultimately, through Neil Armstrong. Wow. It's amazing!

I had always imagined that by 2003 we would be talking about things like Luna City and the first permanently manned Mars outpost. Commercial mining of the asteroid belt. Expeditions to the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn would be in training... But, alas, such is not the case.

Before today, I thought that meant that post-Apollo NASA was a failure. But today is Feb 2, 2003. Yesterday the shuttle Columbia was destroyed with all hands as she was coming in for a landing in Florida. I have had cause to think about the space program and the people actively engaged in pursuing the exploration of space. Certainly the shuttle was not as economic as hoped. Congress has never exactly been as generous with funds as I would have liked. Compared to Kennedy's challenge, there has not been strong leadership or vision in the continuing exploration of space.

But none of that changes the fact that it is a dangerous job and that the people who become astronauts are the very best of us. The start out with curiosity and determination, they follow through with dedication and excellence and only the best of them are chosen. Each and every one of them has my deep respect and heartfelt gratitude. These people, and all of the rest of NASA, are so good at what they do that they make the impossible seem ordinary.

The crew of STS 107

For more information:

STS-107 (KSC)
STS-107 (NASA)
Columbia

Left to Right: David M Brown, Rick D Husband, Laurel B Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P Anderson, William C McCool, and Ilan Ramon.

Looking Ahead

We will need time to figure out and fix what happened to Columbia. It will be a difficult time. It is likely that the International Space Station will be shut down. With looming political events (war), the tragedy of Feb 1 will fade all to quickly in the minds of the public. There are only two shuttles left, the economy is stagnant if not in outright depression... It is a sad time for the world. But yet there is hope, the hope of looking up, or looking forward and beyond what is known. I believe that an ambitious space program is what we need. Achieving impossible tasks brings out the best in people- purposes unite, barriers are broken down. No matter where you are on the Earth, space is always up, let's get everybody looking up and focusing that positive energy just like we were on July 16, 1969!

But who will supply the vigorous leadership necessary? Where can we find the vision to make the dream real? It is up to us.

Will Durant wrote of civilization as a process by which larger and larger groups of people cooperate in order to compete. I think that we are starting to see the emergence of global thinking and planning- perhaps we are truly on the cusp of Civilization as we have never been before. International commerce and global climate concerns are starting to clash; entities such as the WTO and World Court try to resolve issues from a non-national perspective. Awareness of the rest of the world is almost impossible to escape... My hope is that this will continue, that we will become a United Earth from which humanity can explore and participate in the rest of the Universe.

Earthrise