During day five of the USA trip, we visited the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral for most of the day. On this scientific visit we had the privilege to see the Atlantis Orbiter shuttle that has been into space an amazing 37 times and has the ability to make it up there again repeatedly. After admiring the marvellous exhibit we moved onto the highlight of the day, a lunch with astronaut Tom Jones where he talked about food in space and how it is prepared to take into orbit. After the delicious lunch we were taken on a tour around the grounds of Cape Canaveral and it’s nature reserves. Along the road we were lucky to spot some manatees, a crocodile and a bald eagle nest. Unfortunately we were unable to go into the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) that holds the world record for the building that has the largest doors in the world. Each of the four gigantic doors is 456 feet high and takes 45 minutes to completely open. At the conclusion of the tour we saw the most powerful rocket in existence, the Saturn V rocket. In the vast hall that housed the lunar rocket there was also an exhibit on the Apollo missions. There were samples of moon rock brought back by Apollo 11 and its crew of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. The exhibit of Saturn V concluded our memorable visit to NASA.
Our evening consisted of a meal in our favourite restaurant followed by a highly competitive and entertaining round of crazy golf. A refreshing dip in the pool for an hour before retiring to our rooms at 10pm.
Lucas