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Trend Magazine Online™
Travel Review Spring 2022
Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II
#kennedyspacecenter


By Jay Whipple

Trend Magazine Online™

To The Moon Alice, To The Mooncont'd.!

Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic
Welcome to Part Deux (II) of my wonderful and educational trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida. In the distance I could see this huge rocket that stood out like a sore thumb which piqued my interest. It is part of what turned out to be my favorite attraction on site and I will fill you in on why shortly. In the foreground I could not help but to capture these young children happily playing around this rotating globe that listed the constellations of our world. I could not help but to think that perhaps one day they will get to see some of those stars up close as space travel will soon be available to common people like myself.

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On my way over to the big rocket boosters I made another stop through another gift shop just to do some window shopping. This one was two levels and had everything from A to Z to include wearable items like a Classic NASA Meatball Hoodie that sold for a mere $34.99. I say that in comparison to what they charge at sports shops during professional games like Superbowl LIV in Miami Gardens, Florida in which I got a chance to work in retail all that day. Those jackets were on average $150 or more, and fans were snatching them up like they were going out of style!Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!Next up was a sad sight for me as I witnessed one of the shuttle buses returning from the last run to the launching area, mentioned in Part I, that I missed. According to my souvenir map I counted nine launch pads; there is also a Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, Air Force Space and Missile Museum, Apollo/Saturn V Center situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Banana River. I have watched many launches from this area since my childhood but did not realize that there were so many different places to launch. I would see spectators in their lawn chairs and thus assumed that they were in a nearby neighborhood. I will make it a point on my next visit, hopefully sooner than later, to hop this shuttle bus and hopefully by then the bus tours will once again be in operation.

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It was now time for me to enter the most impressive attraction on site which is the Space Shuttle Atlantis building that contains more than 60 exhibits and simulators that document the iconic ship?s 126 million miles of space travel and typically takes 1 ? hours to complete. The shuttle was the fourth to fly into space completing 33 missions that included secret ones for the U.S. military, it ferried astronauts to and from space stations and launched several probes. It is named after a ship that was once operated for the Massachusetts Wood Hole Oceanographic Institute (1930 ? 1966) and was in service from October 3-7, 1985 (STS-51) to July 8-21, 2011 (STS-135; 25 years). Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!I found this attraction so fascinating because I was in proximity to equipment that flew into outer space in my lifetime. I vividly recall seeing the Atlantis land and then piggyback ride on the top of a Boeing 747 aircraft on many occasions. And here I stand over 20 years later staring right at it within arm?s length. My instinct was telling me to reach out and touch it, but my gut said no because if you break something you may end up sweeping the floors here for the rest of your life to cover the damages. As such, I resolved to relishing the experience of seeing this fascinating space vehicle up close and personal.

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And then I had to check out the RS-25 engine which was a spectacle in and of itself as the three main ports were also within arm?s reach. As a former engineer I am always fascinated in what makes a machine actual work? These gizmos were developed in the 1970?s and at that time were our planet?s most sophisticated reusable rocket engines. They were in operation for just 8 minutes and 40 seconds for each flight and had a combined output of 37 million HP (Horsepower) which is equal to Torque x RPM (Revolutions per Minute)/5,252 ? got it? To put it into laymen terms its equivalent to the output of 13 Hoover Dams. Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!Next up was some of the clothing and electronic communications equipment used on the shuttle?s missions. Most folks would just breeze by these exhibits, but I found if fascinating that the astronauts wore clothes in outer space. Smile! I did some extra research and learned that the astronauts would bring enough clothing to change everyday since they do not have laundry service or facilities in outer space. Something most of us would have never thought about or take for granted here on earth. One of the challenges of getting electronic devices to work in outer space is keeping them from over heating because there is no air way up there. The solution is using metal bonded to the circuit to absorb the heat which is known as conductive cooling. Now you know not to bring your typical store-bought devices from Wal-Mart or Amazon on your first trip!

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The next adventure featured interactive mission control gizmos that give you a novice idea of what it must be like operating a spaceship in outer space. There are lots of buttons, controls, and indicator lights that control several circuits onboard the ship. I can only imagine the amount of training that goes into knowing which button to push when this or that happens and what to do if it did not happen? After all, you are in deep space and the wrong sequence of button pushing may jettison you into a whole different galaxy. Of course, they more than likely had indicators that would warn you before that phenomenon occurs just like on Star Trek when Scotty would warn Captain Kirk that he did not have adequate power to reach warp speed. Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!It was now my turn to play with the buttons and controls and indicator lights after patiently waiting for other guests to finish their explorations. I actually ended up spending the bulk of my time looking for the perfect selfie to capture myself and a few of the controls in the background. Folks that are reading this article say in ten years or so (2032) may wonder why I am wearing a facemask in the shot. Well, there is currently a highly communicable disease known as COVID-19 (Coronavirus) that can be deadly if you have a compromised immune system and/or elderly. It began in late 2019 and literally shut the entire world down in late March of 2020 and to date (02/23/2022) there have been 5.91 million related deaths with the United States leading the way with 939 thousand.

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Next up was what looked like a giant metallic cannon from a distance but turned out to be one of the early telescopes that have been deployed into outer space. These gizmos today have brought truth to the saying that ?Big brother is watching you!? In fact, I always assume that I am being watched and tracked each time that I venture outside and, in some cases, while inside my home. What is the fascination with watching other people all the time? You would think that that would be as boring as watching paint dry or sorting all of the socks in the world, but some people?s job is to watch our every move. I am being a bit hypocritical as I now have security cameras installed around my home and you would not believe what I have captured featuring my neighbors, stray cats, and even lizards. Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!I had now worked my way back to the most impressive item in the building which again is the shuttle itself. Before being stripped down, this bad boy weighed over 151,315 pounds (nearly 76 Tons), is 122 feet long, 56 feet tall, and has a wingspan of 78 feet. My words and stats alone cannot describe just how fascinating this ship looks in person. Part of this exhibit is interactive, but I was pressed for time and did not get a chance to experience the touch screen display which details just how the pilot steered the ship in outer space. They also have a display of the PSSC2 which was the last tiny satellite deployed by any shuttle.

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Up next was this really cool looking attraction that appeared to be designed for little ones, but I cannot say for sure because it was close to the sites closing time of 5 PM and the gizmo was shut down. It was a slide that extended from the second to the first floor and consisted of cylindrical tubing. They ask guests to remove their shoes because ?Astronauts Don?t Wear Shoes in Space;? which is something that I have seen on TV but did not pay any attention to until reading the sign. I decided to investigate why and have learned that the reason shoes are not required inside the shuttle is simply because they do not have to walk on the ground. Duh! Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!As I am writing this article and reflecting on my wonderful experience at the Kennedy Space Center, I am still not sure I would have joined in the fun as the thought of sliding down to the first floor seems really appealing to me especially since it is made of plastic as opposed to the metal ones that I grew up with in the 1960?s/early 1970?s. Those prehistoric slides were fun until your skin contacted the metal surface and you got to experience what it?s like to take a bath with a fresh flesh wound known as a raspberry. In hindsight I think I would have just watched as opposed to having that experience again as an older adult.

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Next up was the most touching exhibit in the building known as Fallen Friends and Heroes that pays tribute to those astronauts and non-astronauts who have lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration aboard the STS-51L Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, and STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. I distinctively remember watching live on television the Challenger incident where I and millions of others stared at our sets in disbelief when it exploded just two minutes after launching not too far from this very building. Looking back, it seems as though I was watching a movie and that the crew was going to reappear afterwards. The wall on each side of the hallway displays personal effects from each of the seven-person crew. Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!One of the non-astronaut crew members on the Challenger was Christa McAuliffe a teacher who won out over 11,000 others for the Teacher In Space Project. She and mission specialist Judith Resnik were the first two women to die on a space mission. Also aboard was Dr. Ronald E. McNair who became the second Black astronaut to reach space in 1984 behind Guion "Guy" Bluford who did it on August 30, 1983. McNair graduated magna cum laude in 1971 from North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. He was also a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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I was nearing the end of my visit to the Space Center and as typical I had to grab at least one souvenir. I found the perfect item located near the exit and the cost came in at $9.49 under my $10 budget. I have not seen one of these penny stamping machines in a while and could not resist the temptation to get one as a memento of my visit to the center. I keep it in my wallet because I cannot remember just where all the others are that I have purchased over the decades of my travels. I am an ardent fan of nostalgia and really appreciate it when I come across one of these neat relics from the past. Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic!I departed the center at about 5:25 PM and really appreciate the staff rushing me out before or right at their 5 PM closing time which gave me an opportunity to take it more exhibits and write about them for your reading pleasure and possible future visit. All and all it was a fantastic and memorable visit and the exhibits were well presented and intriguing especially the Atlantis Space Shuttle. The only thing that I found annoying was this pesky security guard who kept bothering me when I was in my vehicle looking over my notes before I departed.

Kennedy Space Center Titusville Florida Part II Review Pic! On my way out I had to snap some pics of the Blue Origin facility that is owned by Amazon´s Jeff Bezos who is leasing the land from NASA and plans to build 322-foot New Glenn rockets that will launch around late 2022. He reminds us that we paid for this! The Kennedy Space Center is located at Space Commerce Way, Merritt Island, FL. 32953. Their telephone number is 1-855-433-4210 and website is https://kennedyspacecenter.com/. Tell them that Trend Magazine Onlinetm




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