Princess Cruise: Kennedy Space Center

I was on our balcony early to watch as we sailed into Port Canaveral on September 27.

We walked off the ship with our luggage and Bob took a shuttle to go get a rental car. Bob had to refuse the first car assigned to him because he needed one for four people, with luggage and miscellaneous bags.

We were on our way to the Kennedy Space Center with about three hours before we needed to head to the airport.

We passed private venture facilities on Cape Canaveral grounds.

We had prepaid our tickets to be able to get in quickly. Kennedy Space Center is very large and a visit should take all day, or even multiple days, but we did what we could in a short time.

We passed the ‘rocket garden’ but didn’t explore. Cindy had done research and suggested we take the shuttle to “the island” area to explore Hanger 39.

While waiting for the shuttle, they had photographers positioned – of course. They took one or two photographs but then, digitally, put many backgrounds behind us. We didn’t choose to buy the photographs so I found the one where the overlay didn’t cover our faces.

We drove by the Vehicle Assembly Building, the largest building in the world by volume. Built in the 1960s, successive NASA programs have used it, beginning with the Saturn series.

It has the largest doors in the world.

The Crawler is the largest transport in the world.

The Crawler uses these gravel paths to transport the launch vehicle to the launch pad. The 4.2 mile trip takes 7-8 hours. The Crawler has been used for 50 years and will likely be utilized for another 30 years.

We arrived at Launch Pad 39. On site there are bleachers for viewing launches and exhibits for visitors.

We experienced a test fire simulator, complete with touch, taste, sound, sight and smell.

We entered an area focusing on climate change and greenhouse gasses.

We were surprised to see the exhibit because of the current administration’s elimination of climate change programs and references in government websites.

Launch Pad 39 holds an Apollo missions exhibit.

The presentation included listening to President Kennedy speaking about his proposed mission to the moon. In part, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skill.”

We saw a tribute to the Apollo 1 astronauts who died in a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal.

This was Apollo 8 launch control.

It was the first mission to orbit the moon and return.

In the lunar theater, we learned about the communication breakdown before the Apollo 11 moon landing, and how close it was to being aborted.

The Eagle had a programming error, which caused it to go too fast and too far over the lunar surface. Commander Shepherd took control and went down where he thought he could land safely.