Date: April 14, 2011
Title: Central Florida for the Space Buff
Podcaster: Tony Rice
Links: Tony’s blog, UTProsim
Description: With only 2 Space Shuttle launches left, STS-134 for Friday, April 29 at 3:47 p.m, and STS-135, currently scheduled for June 28, Central Florida is not only a popular destination for vacationing families going to visit Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter, it’s heaven for space buffs.
Bio: I’m an amateur astronomer from Cary, North Carolina and a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Program. I get to go into schools, visit with scout programs and talk about space.
Sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is anonymously supported.
Transcript:
With only 2 Space Shuttle launches left, STS-134 for Friday, April 29 at 3:47 p.m, and STS-135, currently scheduled for June 28, Central Florida is not only a popular destination for vacationing families going to visit Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter, it’s heaven for space buffs.
Getting there
There is a lot of space history on central Atlantic coast of Florida, collectively called the ?space coast?. The Kennedy Space is about an hour away from Orlando east on SR 528 (the Beachline) and just follow the signs. Keep those quarters handy because this will cost you between $1.50 and $3.25 in tolls depending on where you start. If you are going during a launch consider getting a SunPass electronic toll collection sticker for your car from their website as traffic really backs up at the toll plazas when paying cash. Most rental cars include these transponders and will bill you the cost of tolls plus a couple dollar daily fee. If you are planning on going for STS-134 or STS-135, be prepared for crowds and traffic. Over 300,000 people applied for 80,000 tickets and over a million are expected to line the shores of the Indian River and the beaches for a view of the final missions.
Visitors Complex
The top destination on the space coast is the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. What started out as a simple trailer with displays on card tables in the early 60’s has evolved into a 70 acre complex operated by Deleware North Companies with no government funding. Even someone mildly interested in space can easily spend a full day at there. True space buffs are going to want to schedule at least 2 days to see it all.
Exhibits and attractions include:
* Shuttle Launch Experience, a motion simulator ride which was designed with input by shuttle astronauts and hosted by now NASA administrator Charlie Bolden. Guests better understand the launch process by experiencing the “sights, sounds and sensations of a real Space Shuttle launch.”
* Two different, often 3D IMAX movies. As of this week, films on the International Space station and other on servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, both in 3D are featured and are included in general admission.
* Shuttle, and occasionally Apollo or Skylab, astronauts give 30 minutes talks followed by Q&A several times per day. Most pose for photos with guests as well. A “lunch with an astronaut” program is also available for an extra cost. This week, Shuttle Astronaut Greg Linteris is featured.
* Debus Center houses the Mercury Control center consoles saved from the wrecking ball when the bulding at the Cape Canaveral Air Force base was demolished.
* Future visitors can look forward to, as we learned this past Tuesday, seeing Space Shuttle Atlantis come home from the final shuttle mission. The visitor complex has a spectacular display planned.
Tours
A basic tour of the Kennedy Space Center is included in your general admission. This bus tour is conducted by the driver and takes you past the massive Vertical Assembly Building where Saturn V rockets were stacked 40 years ago and where the shuttle is stacked today. The external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters sit in there today awaiting the Atlantis to join them for the last time. The tour continues past the press area where the blue countdown clock sits in the shadow of Pegasus the barge that sits idle after bringing external fuel tanks for the shuttle for the past 30 years. The bus follows the road along the crawler way towards launch complex 39 built for Apollo missions and reconfigured for the shuttle program in the late 70s. Visitors exit the bus at a stop near the fork in the crawlerway between pads A & B for a better view. This stop includes scale model displays of the service structures at the launch pads, mate-demate device which hoists the orbiter above the modified 747s which ferry it between KSC and Edwards Air Force base in California. Visitors can view a shuttle main engine from all sides as well. Visitors board a bus again for the ride back out past the VAB, orbiter processing facilities where orbiters are housed between missions and turn right towards the Saturn V center. There what would have been the vehicle used for Apollo 18 is displayed, on it’s side in a massive building. The building also houses shows simulating what it was like in the launch control center during Apollo 11 using the very consoles that used to sit a few miles down the road. A fascinating presentation on the landing of Apollo 11 on the lunar surface tells the harrowing story that many visitors are unaware of.
For those looking to get a bit more in depth on current and more recent operations, the “Discover KSC” tour includes a stop about a mile from the launch pad at a hill where one of the dozens of tracking cameras is mounted to monitor shuttle ascent during launches. Busses park next to one of the many field mill sensors that measure static electricity in the air giving mission managers information on the likely hood of lightening strikes, a measure added after Apollo 12 was struck by lightening on ascent in front of a visiting President Nixon. This tour also snakes its way around the perimeter of pad B, currently being demolished to make way for other launch of vehicles other than the Shuttle. It was most recently used for tests of the Aries I-X rocket, derived from the solid rocket boosters used on the shuttle program. The tour then meanders through NASA?s industrial complex pointing out buildings where parachutes are inspected and repaired, payload canisters are loaded and rotated to a vertical position for loading into the shuttle, ISS modules and other payloads are prepped for launch. On my most recent visit, our tour guide talked a bit about the movies filmed at KSC over the years and even pointed out the doors where Bruce Willis made his “Right Stuff” walk out to save the world. The tour then makes a stop at the VAB for a quick photo op then visits the Shuttle Landing facility briefly before ending at the Saturn V center. Visitors who choose see what the standard tour sees and more.
For those more interested in the history of the space program, the “Cape Canaveral: Then and Now” tour is a better choice. The tour zips past the industrial area of the Kennedy Space Center across the causeway where thousands of ticketed guests have viewed each space shuttle launch to the Cape Canaveral Air Force base where Americas space program took shape. Tour guides point out buildings, which housed launch control as well as medical facilities that gave Gemini astronauts, their last checkouts before climbing aboard the modified ICBMs. The tour continues past the facility where solid rocket boosters are lifted from the water after being towed in by the Liberty Star and Freedom Star recovery ships, are separated into segments and shipped back to Utah to be loaded with solid fuel again. At least that?s what used to happen. Visitors then may be asked to put away cameras as the tour continues past the ?skip strip? a runway used by the Air Force and past a large building used to process reconnaissance satellites by an unnamed U.S. Government Agency. The tour includes a stop at Launch Complex 34, site of the fire which took the lives of the Apollo 1 astronauts. Visitors are given the opportunity to wander the launch pad, take photos, and view the memorial plaques. The tour continues past Cape Canaveral Light House and on past many historic launch pads, each with a large sign listing the flights that have taken place there. The bus also passes actively used pads where SpaceX has launched its test flights from and planetary science missions such as the mars rovers have launched from. You?ll also pass the silo where the debris of a Challenger are stored. The other lengthy stop on the tour is at the Air Froce Space and Missle Museum, more on that later.
Both specialized tours add a dedicated tour guide in addition to the driver and each guest is provided an informative guide book so you?ll have something to take home.
Astronaut Hall of Fame
Included in your admission to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex is admission to the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, 6 miles back on the Florida mainland. Consider starting your visit here, as crowds tend to be less in the morning.
In addition to the exhibit on the inductees to the hall of fame, there is room after room of artifacts from the Gemini program through the current shuttle program. The Hall of Fame also recently added ?Science on a Sphere?, a presentation on our solar system projected a large white sphere suspended in the middle of the room. The Hall of Fame is also the former site of Florida?s Space Camp and current site of the ?Astronaut Training Experience?, a program available for an extra fee for kids, parents or both to take part in simulations of working as an astronaut on a shuttle mission.
Space Shop
Space buffs won?t want to miss the multi story gift shop at the visitors center. Hundreds of patches and pins as well as one of the best collections of space related books for sale you?ll find anywhere occupy the top floor. The bottom floor includes toys , apparel and souvenirs you?d find in most theme parks or science centers. If you find your basket filling up at the space shop or have a large group buying lunch at the visitors center, consider spending $13 to upgrade your admission to an annual pass and take advantage of the discount of 15% on food and 10% on items at the shop.
Wildlife
KSC sits among the Cape Canaveral National Seashore which is managed by the National Park Service. NASA makes use of a very small percentage of the square miles owned by the federal government there. Tour guides point out the armadillos, bald eagles (and their young at the right time of year), panthers, and many alligators that call the swamps, ponds and drainage ditches along the roadways home. One eagle nest in particular about halfway between the VAB and Visitors Complex has been there for years and is about the size of a small car.
The Brevard County Zoo, a few miles down I-95 is also a great way to see some more of that Florida wildlife. My family waited out launch delays for STS-127 and STS-131. If you are a member of a zoo or aquarium back home, be sure to ask about a discount.
AF Space and Missle Museum
The Air Force Space and Missle Museum is actually 2 museums, The ?History Center? is located just outside the south gates of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base behind the cruise ship docks of Port Canaveral and is open to the public free of admission Tuesday through Sunday. The other is on base located at launch complex 26, 5 and 6 where the first American satellite, Explorer I was launched in 1958 as well as America?s first manned missions with Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom in 1961 . Inside the blockhouse, launch consoles are displayed along with the Gemini II spacecraft, the first spacecraft to be reused when it also served in tests of the Air Force?s Manned Orbital Laboratory. Outside in the rocket garden a Mercury Redstone sits ready on Pad 5 while a Jupiter C sits ready on pad 6. The on base museum can be visited by the general public but requires either the ?Cape Canaveral Then and Now? tour through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex or a free historic bus tour offered by the Air Force?s 45th Space Wing Public Affairs office the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Either way, make reservations early because space fills up fast.
ÿAlan Shepard and Virgil “Gus” Grissom, were catapulted into space
Beyond Cape Canaveral
Admission is free to the Space Walk of Fame Museum on Main Street in Titusville. Much of the museum consists of launch consoles saved from the scrap heap by KSC workers. Their collection also includes shuttle tiles and other historic items from the Shuttle and Apollo eras. Space View Park outside the museum includes monuments with huge versions of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission logos.
The planetarium at Brevard Community College Planetarium and Observatory features shows Wednesday through Saturday as well lectures by area space educators and those in the space industry. The Brevard Astronomical Society operates a 24 inch telescope on clear Friday and Saturday nights from sunset to 10:15pm sharing the night sky with the public at no charge.
Back in Orlando, the Orlando Science Center features a large planetarium as well as their new exhibit entitled ?Our Planet, Our Universe?. The Orlando Science Center also offers discounts to those with planetarium and science center memberships elsewhere.
So whether you are looking for an educational side trip while visiting the mouse in Central Florida or looking for a spacey way to kill time while waiting for the next shuttle launch attempt, there are great options you wont find anywhere else.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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