I've been lucky to go to Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) at Cape Canaveral a couple of times: 2008, 2014 (see here) and then again this week. Amongst all the fun theme parks around Orlando, I think of it as "Adult Disneyland" and it never disappoints.
Lets start with what I came for: ARTEMIS II. Stacked and racked and this was the day she was originally meant to launch. Always an aspirational date, it got pushed back to March (at time of writing) but fantastic to see here ready to go! Pic taken from the Gantry at Pad 39B, about 3miles/5km away (she was fuelled so we couldn't get any closer). That gravel path is the special road for the "crawler" that dragged her there
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| This is Crawler 2 - dedicated to ARTEMIS |
The Crawler weighs in a 6 million pounds, and can drag 3 times it weight along the specifically constructed pathway at a speed of 1 to 1.5mph. This is what the crawler looked like last week taking ARTEMIS II out to the pad (pic courtesy of National Geographic hereThe two Crawlers have been in service for over 50 years!
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/exploration-ground-systems/the-crawlers/
This is the new SpaceX facility right next door at pad 39A, specifically built to support Starship launches at a rate of up to 40 per year. The structure of the 'Mechazilla' is clearly well advanced.
Pads 39A and B were made famous originally for their roles in the Apollo program. The nearby Saturn 5 display gives you a fabulous opportunity to walk under these monstrous and fantastic constructions. It is one of only 3 remaining.
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| The business end of the first stage - five R1 engines! |
It's always amazing to stand right next to a real spacecraft and KSC has not one but two.
Apollo 14 Command Module "Kittyhawk" was the third US crewed lunar landing mission over a 9 day period in Jan-Feb 1971. The LEM "Antares" landed in the Fra Mauro highlands while this spacecraft completed more than 30 lunar orbits before returning to Earth and landing
In Apollo 14's most famous event, Commander Alan Shepard (who was the first American in Space in FREEDOM-7) hit two golf balls with a makeshift six iron!
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| This module splashed own in the South Pacific and was recovered by the US Navy ship USS New Orleans |
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| Alan Shepard's model A7-L EVA suit worn on Lunar surface moon during Apollo14 |
Also on up-close display is Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-014) - the fourth and second last orbiter built - which completed 33 seperate occasions and spent a total of 307 days in space. She was the last shuttle to fly, completing mission STS-135 in July 2011.
There is just one surviving US Shuttle I haven't seen now - Endeavour, which is currently not on display
Of interest - the concept Mars Rover or Mars Rover Vehicle Navigator (MRVN)
Other fabulous artefacts on display include: |
| Training Lunar Rover |
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| Jim Lovell's flight suit worn during the infamous Apollo 13 mission |
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| The Lunar surface map collection carried by Apollo 11 |
I always enjoy seeing maps where humans have set foot on the moon. I hope to see this expand greatly in the next few decades, starting with ARTEMIS III
No trip to KSC is complete without going past the "VAB". The famous "Vehicle Assembly Building" is the largest single story building in the world. Built to assemble the Apollo Missions, repurposed for Shuttle, then the cancelled ARES program, and now used to stack ARTEMIS missions.
The Rocket Park - another great meander through but I'd done that recently in Huntsville (and WITH a rocket scientist!) so I didn't spend too much time there
And having seen ARTEMIS on the launch pad, we felt compelled to stop at the local brewery at Titusville "Playlinda" and enjoy a couple of their Artemis II IPAs to close out a great day :-)
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| "I'll be back!" |
