Space The final Frontier…
Gosh Wednesday already…how did that happen ?
It feels as though I haven’t stopped for breath since I arrived back in the UK on Sunday morning.
Sunday was pretty hectic, on Monday I returned to work and had fencing in the evening getting home late at around 11:15pm
So today really has been the frst time I have been able to indulge ladkyis and upload some pictures of Rockets as she requested.
You know the old adage “ be careful what you wish for……”
Athough I didn’t get to see it launch, I did get to see Shuttle Atlantis which was still on launch pad 39b for STS-125.
She’s rescheduled to launch in February to carry out the last ever scheduled ‘MOT’ of Hubble.
One of the best exhibits at the KSC is the restored Saturn V housed in a specially constructed Museum.
My god it’s long !.....
The five F1 Engines on the First Saturn V stage
The Five J2 Engines of Saturn V Stage 2
The Top of the LOx tank in Stage 2
The Single J2 engine of Saturn V stage 3
..Still going…
Stage 3 and LEM Housing
The LEM unpacked and in flight/Landing configuration
…Nearly There…
And atop the lot is the Apollo Spacecraft itself comprising of the Command Module (crew capsule) and Service module which contained all the fuel, Oxygen and Hydrogen and scientific instruments / payload.
The Saturn V remains the US’s largest and arguably most spectacular launch vehicle.
The one at the KSC is made of surplus stages from the scrubbed lunar exploration missions (J missions) Apollo 18, 19 and 20 which were to have followed Apollo 17.
Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V
One of the lesser know trips you can do at the Space Centre is the Historic Tour of Cape Canavral.
It takes you to key parts of the KSC which played a significant part in the Mercury, Gemini , and Apollo Programmes.
First Up Project Mercury.
This is the ‘Blockhouse’ Firing room or launch centre for the first US manned space flight missions , it was from these rooms that Al Shepherd and John Glenn became the first US astronaut in Space and the first US astronaut to orbit the earth. There was a difference.
Launch Controls of the Mercury Blockhouse
The original launch pad of the First US Astronaut Al Shepherd with a replica Mercury capsule atop a Redstone rocket. When I last did the tour in 200 we were allowed to stand on the pad and have our pics taken . Sadly no longer allowed.
Memorial Commemorating Project Mercury
Co inkydinkily The hotel I stayed in , in Cocoa Beach was built buy the original Mercury 7 ! A fact I didn’t realise until I was checking out …when I saw the sign ….
Apollo Launch Complex
This is the central support to Pad 34 site of the Apollo 1 disaster in which the crew of Apollo 1 burned to death, and a plaque commemorating their lives;
From Pad 34 you can see across to the heavy lift Delta launch pad which is very much active. Framed between two Saturn V exhaust deflector vanes is the modern launch complex it which you can clearly make out the orange booster rockets of a secret Department of Defense Military rocket which will carry a military payload into orbit on 31 October....
PS: Shhhh don't tell anyone I told you right !
The Rocket Park at the KSC Visitor Centre, home to Redstone, Titan, Juno, Saturn 1B and a number of other launch vehicles, Capsules and engines.
The gantry which all allowed the Apollo Astronauts to walk from the Tower complex to the CM atop of the Saturn V. Rocket park behind.
So there it is…lots and lots and lots of Space stuff………and it’s just the tip of the iceberg !
It feels as though I haven’t stopped for breath since I arrived back in the UK on Sunday morning.
Sunday was pretty hectic, on Monday I returned to work and had fencing in the evening getting home late at around 11:15pm
So today really has been the frst time I have been able to indulge ladkyis and upload some pictures of Rockets as she requested.
You know the old adage “ be careful what you wish for……”
Athough I didn’t get to see it launch, I did get to see Shuttle Atlantis which was still on launch pad 39b for STS-125.
She’s rescheduled to launch in February to carry out the last ever scheduled ‘MOT’ of Hubble.
One of the best exhibits at the KSC is the restored Saturn V housed in a specially constructed Museum.
My god it’s long !.....
The five F1 Engines on the First Saturn V stage
The Five J2 Engines of Saturn V Stage 2
The Top of the LOx tank in Stage 2
The Single J2 engine of Saturn V stage 3
..Still going…
Stage 3 and LEM Housing
The LEM unpacked and in flight/Landing configuration
…Nearly There…
And atop the lot is the Apollo Spacecraft itself comprising of the Command Module (crew capsule) and Service module which contained all the fuel, Oxygen and Hydrogen and scientific instruments / payload.
The Saturn V remains the US’s largest and arguably most spectacular launch vehicle.
The one at the KSC is made of surplus stages from the scrubbed lunar exploration missions (J missions) Apollo 18, 19 and 20 which were to have followed Apollo 17.
Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V
One of the lesser know trips you can do at the Space Centre is the Historic Tour of Cape Canavral.
It takes you to key parts of the KSC which played a significant part in the Mercury, Gemini , and Apollo Programmes.
First Up Project Mercury.
This is the ‘Blockhouse’ Firing room or launch centre for the first US manned space flight missions , it was from these rooms that Al Shepherd and John Glenn became the first US astronaut in Space and the first US astronaut to orbit the earth. There was a difference.
Launch Controls of the Mercury Blockhouse
The original launch pad of the First US Astronaut Al Shepherd with a replica Mercury capsule atop a Redstone rocket. When I last did the tour in 200 we were allowed to stand on the pad and have our pics taken . Sadly no longer allowed.
Memorial Commemorating Project Mercury
Co inkydinkily The hotel I stayed in , in Cocoa Beach was built buy the original Mercury 7 ! A fact I didn’t realise until I was checking out …when I saw the sign ….
Apollo Launch Complex
This is the central support to Pad 34 site of the Apollo 1 disaster in which the crew of Apollo 1 burned to death, and a plaque commemorating their lives;
From Pad 34 you can see across to the heavy lift Delta launch pad which is very much active. Framed between two Saturn V exhaust deflector vanes is the modern launch complex it which you can clearly make out the orange booster rockets of a secret Department of Defense Military rocket which will carry a military payload into orbit on 31 October....
PS: Shhhh don't tell anyone I told you right !
The Rocket Park at the KSC Visitor Centre, home to Redstone, Titan, Juno, Saturn 1B and a number of other launch vehicles, Capsules and engines.
The gantry which all allowed the Apollo Astronauts to walk from the Tower complex to the CM atop of the Saturn V. Rocket park behind.
So there it is…lots and lots and lots of Space stuff………and it’s just the tip of the iceberg !