After an early wake up (thanks boys!) we went down to breakfast at the hotel in St Augustine. Our boys love hotel breakfasts, especially the buffet type. There were loads of school children also having breakfast, but they were pretty well behaved.
We were able to get on the road fairly early, and took a steady drive the 120ish miles from St Augustine to the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC from here on in.)
It wasn't overly busy, we purchased our ticket and headed in, avoiding the school trips.
We walked past the rocket garden.....
past the Space Shuttle Atlantis.....
and headed straight for the tour. We sat at the back of the bus (again)
This was an awesomely informative tour. We drove past so many great sites, I wish I could remember what they all were. Oh well, have some photos instead
I do remember that the building below was the original control centre. In the foreground, you can see track marks from where the machine has carried the space rickets to the launch pads. We drove past about 3 launch pads, many of which are now owned by private contractors ready to put their space vehicles up there.
Toward the end of the tour, you disembark from the bus at the Apollo/Saturn V Centre. Here, you are taken in to the original control room, how it was at the time of the first lunar landings. It is so cool....
You then exit, and get to see the ENORMOUS 363-foot long Saturn V moon rocket. Thats us, standing underneath it.
This is such an awesome part of the KSC. You can spend as long as you like in this building exploring the different exhibits. We were probably there for about an hour before getting on the bus back to the main visitor complex.
We were hungry, so we got off the bus, and headed straight for the Orbit cafe. This place had a great ordering system, naming the long queues move fast, and the food came promptly. We were all ravenous, so everything got eaten.
From there we headed to the Space Shuttle Atlantic building. you watch a couple of short videos then BOOM! The shuttle is right in front of you. (Think KSC must have used the same production company as The World of Coca Cola. ) They have it suspended from the sky, it is awe inspiring.
There is lots of information and exhibits to take part in and read. Out boys loved this area, as they had a crawl through tunnel hanging over the space shuttle (it smelt of feet).
By now we were all suffering major sensory overload. We headed to the store for a few souvenirs, and checked out the rocket garden a little bit more, before going back to the car and heading to the next hotel.
KSC is well worth a visit. It is still an active rocket launch site, in fact, one is going up tomorrow. You can check out their events here, to see when the next one is. It would be so awesome to see. We really enjoyed our day, and are particularly glass we went in November, when it wasn't too busy, or really hot. Granted it was very warm the day we went, but in July, it must be unbearable.
Our hotel was situated in Cocoa Beach, just south of Cape Canaveral, and it was packed! This was due to the amount of cruises leaving for Thanksgiving. Heres the boys the next day with an astronaut.
Next stop: Miami
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