Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve
NASA's Center, located on the 140,000 acre Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve, shares space with 500 different species of wildlife and 1,000 species of plants. The refuse is located on the Atlantic Flyway and is a key resting spot for many migrating species. Their brochure puts forth an interesting concept, "The unique relationship the Refuse shares with NASA bears testimony that nature and technology can peacefully coexist."
As we drove toward the Space Center, we saw alligators sunning themselves on both sides of the road in water filled ditches created when the road was built. We saw several bald eagles as well as the largest eagle nest in North America. The nest is roughly the size of a king size bed and has been inhabited for forty years.
Kennedy Space Center
It was inspiring and somewhat humbling to see the enormous size and technical complexity of the spaceships and rockets that propel them as well as the facilities required to prepare, maintain, and launch them. Bob and I both felt a real sense of pride in what has been accomplished by our nation and the brave men and women who have flown these incredible spaceships. We were awed by selfless dedication of the astronauts who've spent thousands of hours in preparation and simulation to man these missions in space. They are the true explorers of our lifetime. We were equally impressed by the technical ingenuity, imagination, and attention to detail of the thousands of engineers and technicians without whom the missions would not have been possible.
Throughout the Space Center are photographs with explanations of pioneering NASA research that has benefited completely unrelated facets of everday life. To mention a few: more than 66,000 profoundly deaf people can now hear, thanks to cochlear implants that stimulate the auditory nerves; wet roads are 85% safer due to grooves cut in pavement increasing traction by 300%; and Hubble Space Telescope technology is being used to pinpoint tissue for biopsy in diagnosing breast cancer.
Apollo Mission
There were 18 Apollo Missions in total. Apollo I blew up on the launch pad – and our country continued to pursue the goal of reaching the moon. Imagine the courage required of the crew on Apollo II!!!
Apollo’s Space Ships, mounted on the Saturn V rocket, had over two million separate systems, all of which had to work together flawlessly. Each system was tested separately, but never tested in combination with all of its counterparts prior to blastoff. (That in itself requires faith and supreme courage to pilot one of these ships!!!) The Saturn V, with its payload, was a massive 360’ long. Its five engines put out more thrust than 35 jumbo jets on takeoff.
An entire section of the Space Center is dedicated to the Apollo Mission, with an actual Apollo Space ship on display there. Only 27 men have been to the moon and of those, only 12 have walked on it. Inside the Apollo Mission building is a piece of moon rock that can be touched; the surface has been worn smooth by thousands of fingers – including ours.
The future Apollo Program, called Constellation, is developing robots to place on the moon. The eventual goal is to return men to the moon in the year 2020.
Whenever I think of the Apollo missions, I remember the date the first man walked on the moon – July 20th, 1969 – Amie’s second birthday. As a young GE engineer, Dave worked on the emission control system with Werner VonBraun in Houston, Texas. Another personal and very special connection with the Apollo missions for me was meeting and spending time with Ed Mitchell who flew on Apollo 14. When Ed was a featured speaker at a Saratoga Springs conference, I had the great pleasure of picking him up and returning him to the Airport. It was a wonderful experience to spend several hours of fascinating one-on-one conversation with him!!
International Space Station
We had a real treat; the Atlantis Space Shuttle was on the launch pad, loaded with the next module to go to the International Space Station. Scheduled launch is February 7th. This is the first of the eight launches scheduled for 2008. The current Commander of the Space Station is a female astronaut from the United States. Atlantis will be the 121st launch since 1986, when the first piece of the Space Station was put in place by the Russians. That piece is named “Mir,” which means peace in Russian. Sixteen nations are participating in its development, with the United States playing the major role. All launches are made from the Kennedy Space Center. The Station is scheduled for completion in five years after 38 more space flights. When completed it will weigh over 1,000,000 pounds and be larger than two football fields. It is traveling at 17,500 miles per hour and circles the globe every 92 minutes in an orbit 200-230 miles above the Earth. It can often be seen with the naked eye.
The Space Shuttle and its booster rockets are the same height as the Statue of Liberty, but weigh three times as much. The rocket designed for the Space Shuttle is the only rocket engine in the world designed for re-use. Each one of the three shuttle engines puts out 375,000 pounds of thrust.
When the Space Shuttle returns, all the parts are reused, except the hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks. To prepare the Shuttle for the next launch requires nine months and over 300,000 work hours. The solid fuel booster rockets, which are recovered from the ocean, are sent to Nevada via rail to be refurbished and then returned to the Space Center. The shuttle itself spends several months in the orbiter processing facility where it is examined, repaired, and refitted with new parts as needed.
It then goes to the Space Shuttle Assembly Building where it is mated with refurbished booster rockets and new fuel tanks. The assembly building is 525 feet high, covers eight acres, and is the 3rd largest building in the world by volume. The mating process requires a 325 ton crane with 1/50,000 of an inch vertical accuracy and 1/64th of an inch horizontal accuracy. WOW – and I thought brain surgery was precise!
The latest addition to the Kennedy Space Center is the Shuttle Launch Experience, which Bob of course had to experience! He was fascinated by the realism of the simulated launch, including the intense vibration, extreme noise, and sensation of rapid acceleration and movement - all of which resulted in a roaring headache for the remainder of the day! Guess he won't be an astronaut in this lifetime!
As you can see by the number of numerical facts – Bob really enjoyed the two days!
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