Merritt Island, Florida - Part 1

Actually, today's maps show 2 large barrier islands extending along the Atlantic shoreline from Titusville to Melbourne, Florida, as Merritt Island. 

Perhaps, best known worldwide as the home of NASA's space launches,

many visit this area for the wonderful Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, or for Port Canaveral with its many cruise ship lines taking vacationers onto the seas.  All this is a bit overwhelming for one post, so we'll start with our visit to Kennedy Space Center.

Visiting this amazing Center is a bit overwhelming and, as much as we tried, we could not see and comprehend all there was to learn within a day's visit.  Luckily, our good friends Al and Sandy (who live nearby and use their annual passes to the center often) were our tour guides! 

Al and Sandy (our tour guides)

We started with the bus tour that actually drives into the high security areas with a driver/guide who reviewed the historical areas and provided updates on current and intended future usage of this space port.  First and foremost, we were able to see just how large (HUGE) the launch pads and other facilities are to handle the size of the interspace vehicles.  Seeing a launch on the home small-screen TV is nothing like visiting the actual location.

Launch Pad (outward curved fence was designed to keep alligators out)

Apollo rocket displayed in sections in a very large room.  Displays show descriptions of all the Apollo missions.

After the bus tour, we grabbed some lunch and continued our odyssey learning first about the Apollo series (US crafts landing on the moon).  This was really interesting and we actually spent some time in the actual control center room while watching the landing etc.  (I remember watching this room on TV many years ago during launches and re-entries.)

Apollo Launch Room (original equipment)

The next area was related to the space shuttle and its design, re-design and final successes.  An actual shuttle on display provided a great view of (what else) how HUGE it is.

Gary in the Atlantis Shuttle mockup

Leslie in the Shuttle re-entry exhibit 

And, of course, there was extensive information on the space station, from its beginnings to its continued use today.  Displays of space housing were also informative.

Complicated instructions went with the space toilet!

Looking toward the future of space travel, we checked out some of the displays with ideas for new tech vehicles, communication, and life-needs for long term travel.  The recent movie "The Martian" may not be science fiction!  Technology continues to proceed into new realms, via both governmental and private corporation efforts.  What may be the "norm" for our  grandkids?

On the way out, I was, of course, interested in the Rocket Garden. 

View of the shuttle launch vehicle display

With the day ending, we realized another trip would be necessary to see more at the Kennedy Space Center!