Florida, USA: We have Lift-off at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

What comes to mind when you hear the acronym NASA? Astronauts, rockets, tales of heroic daring-do, ingenuity and exploration. A couple of days here at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral Florida ticked all of those boxes and more. It was also an inspirational learning opportunity for Rafe and Odessa – science, engineering and technology brought to life in the most powerful of ways.

The time flew by nearly as quickly as the rockets themselves. The excitement built at the first glimpses of the iconic NASA logo and of the rocket garden, populated by the rockets of the early heroic Mercury and Gemini missions that paved the way for the Apollo programme.

In the presence of real live astronauts

The hardware of space flight is epic enough, and there was plenty of it to gaze upon in awe. But Kennedy provides the opportunity to hear directly from the ‘software’, the people at he pointy end, and this makes it all doubly real and memorable. As we visited over two days we were able to see two different astronauts tell their stories. An utter privilege to see two of the 355 NASA astronauts that have been into space. Both got across their huge enthusiasm for science and the natural world in their own very different ways and Rafe and Odessa were enthralled.

Charles ‘Sam’ Gemar

Lieutenant Colonel Gemar told the story of how he joined the astronaut corps with tremendous energy. His path to becoming an astronaut in 1986 followed what had been largely typical up to then, coming in to NASA through the US military. However he was unusual for the time in that he was drawn from the US Army (rather than the fighter or test pilots of the US Air Force of Navy), although his engineering background combined with work in army aviation brought him to the fore. The final two of his three missions were all focussed on scientific experimentation, but his first was the most interesting from our point of view; a classified mission for the clandestine (at the time) National Reconnaissance Office likely placing a spy satellite into orbit – although of course he could tell us no more about it.

Julie Payette

The second astronaut we heard from, Julie Payette, represents the opposite approach to becoming an astronaut. A civilian Canadian with several degrees in Engineering and Mathematics, who then went on to gain her pilots wings during astronaut training. Payette’s two missions into space are themselves of course amazing, including the first docking of the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station in the early days of the ISS build in the early 2000’s. But in some ways her subsequent career (that she didn’t mention during this talk) is equally impressive. This has included board positions with several major companies, banks and the Canadian Olympic Committee. She was also the Governor General of Canada (the Queen’s representative in the country) for three years. What a life already! Apparently this was Payette’s first appearance at one of these talks at Kennedy, though it didn’t show – so her life’s work is now complete!

The actual Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis

Space shuttle orbiter Atlantis is one of six orbiters built by NASA as part of the space shuttle programme. The space shuttle orbiter (as well as it’s friends the pair of solid rocket boosters) were the first reusable spacecraft (have that Elon!) and were central to such great things as placing the Hubble telescope into orbit and building the International Space Station.

To be up close to this actual craft that went into space on 33 missions had us all in awe. What made it all the more real was that the craft has been preserved in its final state after landing it’s last mission – complete with the scorch marks and general wear and tear from its fiery re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.

NASA has also done a fantastic job with the presentation and set-up of this area. The best bit we shan’t reveal here so you also get to experience the surprise. Downstairs there are several hands-on simulators that the kids enjoyed hugely. Operating the Canadarm, docking etc. Rafe especially enjoyed getting to grips with the flight deck controls, which tapped into his current focus on becoming a pilot, with Odessa a very willing co-pilot. The full motion launch simulator was also fantastic.

Equally well presented but especially poignant is the tribute to the crews of Challenger and Columbia, both of which were lost during the shuttle programme. To see a large piece of each craft was particularly striking.

To the moon! – the Apollo programme and the Saturn V rocket

Landing on the moon with the Apollo programme is surely the defining achievement of NASA in many people’s eyes. An enormous Saturn V rocket stack naturally dominates the exhibition space but there is so much more here surrounding it. The vault of treasures contains genuine items from the Apollo missions which certainly provide the expected impact, including a used Apollo capsule complete with the patina gained from re-entry and splashdown and several spacesuits. We all took the rare opportunity to touch a real piece of moon rock, of course.

Alongside exhibits that left earth orbit there is also suitable prominence given to the work of the hundreds of thousands of engineers and technicians that answered President Kennedy’s challenge and delivered the Apollo programme to a remarkably short timescale. The real Apollo launch control centre was brilliantly brought to life through a mock countdown.

Snoopy and Peanuts

Snoopy and his Peanuts friends were unexpected heroes of our visit. We didn’t know this before, but Snoopy has a long tradition of being NASA’s mascot – initially to promote the Apollo missions but more recently as NASA’s safety figurehead. A silver Snoopy pin is still bestowed today to NASA team members that excel on safety. This meant that during our visit Snoopy and his friends appeared several times including in a brilliant puppet show.

How we did it

We bought 2 day tickets for Kennedy Space Center which allow a second visit in the six months after the first. We didn’t wait that long to return. We took a beach day at Cocoa Beach before going back to the space center a second time the next day. Although it would just about be possible to visit Kennedy and do most things within a single day going twice made it all more relaxed, and there were a couple of simulators that the kids wanted to do again (as even on a working Friday there were some queues). This was all made easier as we had a hire car and stayed in an AirBnB in the nearby town of Cocoa.