The Kennedy Space Center is situated on miles and miles of swamp off to the east of where we're staying. It's a clever location, with thousands of alligators making sure that no one sneaks around where they're not supposed to. Once you get past those, the visitors' center is chock full of rockets, shuttles, and even an astronaut or two that you can have lunch with (for an extra fee).
All the space vehicles are gigantic. It's quite shocking how many chemicals you have to burn to lift yourself off the earth - things would be so much easier if gravity was a bit less - and we wandered wide-eyed under a Saturn V rocket that put people on the moon and past the Atlantis space shuttle.
The whole place is breathtaking and really well done, but tinged with a little bit of sadness as there's not much exactly going on. The cancellation of the space shuttle program is described as "a great opportunity" in the same way your boss describes it as "a great opportunity" when she fires you. Presentations about the moon landing remind you just what an unfeasible, incredible achievement it was, but also how long ago that happened and how we haven't managed to fly humans any further. My problem is that part of me still believes Thunderbirds and Star Trek are documentaries.
But all is not lost! NASA is partnering with some commercial companies to start taking stuff up to the International Space Station while it concentrates on deep space flight. "Perhaps the first person to walk on Mars is standing right here in this room," said one presenter. "Oooh, pick me, pick me," I said, raising my hand and jumping around, but from her look I don't think that's what she meant. The 2016 Presidential candidates are all in Florida at the moment - sadly we missed Trump's Orlando rally by one day. Maybe I should track them down and start shouting questions about space-funding...shortly before inviting them to step aboard for a quick trip to a black hole.
The famous "meatball" logo.
Oh for a muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.
Enough said.
Go Canada! This is the "Canadarm" of the shuttle.
Pete the pilot. Expect a bumpy ride.
The view from space.
Crawling around a mini International Space Station.
Space walk.
They had a few different simulators that were impossible. "That's why astronauts have so much training," it told us when we continually failed. Fixed, I say.
Actual shuttle wheels. They use them twice, then they go to a museum.
Meeting a space robot.
Out at the launch pad. No smoking.
This is the actual command center used for Apollo 11! The actual one!!
The business end of a Saturn V.
A piece of moon rock. Or it would be, if Stanley Kubrick hadn't faked the moon landings in the Mojave Desert.
Here's a re-entry capsule that fell through the atmosphere and landed in the ocean. You have to be a special kind of person to be an astronaut, in that you shouldn't think too hard about how insane what you're doing is.
You need a big building to keep a rocket in.
On the gantry, ready for lift off.
The rocket garden.
Back at the hotel they had a family campfire with s'mores as an evening activity. "It's like at the resort in Dirty Dancing!" exclaimed Hannah. But without the dancing.
Who needs to go into space when you can make one of these right here on earth?
