Kennedy Space Center

 April 19,2016

Kennedy Space Center Entrance

So far so good.  We left Sands Harbor Marina on the 17th as planned and have had no further engine trouble.  We arrived in Cocoa Village planning to stay a couple of days in order to visit the Kennedy Space Center.  If you have never visited the KSC you should consider adding a visit to your bucket list!  Well worth the visit. The space shuttles were put together in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) - NASA likes acronyms!  

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

  And then transported to one of two launchpads on a "crawler".  They were driven on this laser guided vehicle down the "crawlerway".  To support the weight of the shuttles the "crawlerway" has two 40 foot wide lanes with a 50 foot median.  It consists of a 7 foot deep bed of stones beneath a layer of asphalt and then topped with a 4 inch thick layer of Tennessee river rock.  The Tennessee rock was chosen because it is "spark resistant".  An important consideration!! 

Crawler with the launch platform on top

It takes a team of almost 30 engineers, technicians and drivers to operate the crawler.  It weighs 6,000,000 pounds (and that is without the weight of the launch platform and shuttle).  Dang that is alot of weight!!  But the most interesting fact was that it was a gal right out of engineering school who came up with the idea for the crawler - first job!  Not too shabby!

The Crawlerway

The shuttle program of course came to a close - but a new chapter has opened with SpaceX winning the bid to launch rockets from the Kennedy Space Center.  

SpaceX building near the crawlerway

 

The Launchpad - up a slight incline

Return capsule

Rocket Garden

NASA has an amazing history of accomplishment. 

 

Great day!  Again well worth the visit - you would not be disappointed.