I could stand next to the hatch of an open Apollo capsule and really get a sense of the small amount of space there was, the plethora of switches and gauges, and the seemingly archaic instrumentation (by today's standards). What we did with this vehicle is simply breathtaking. Trying to imagine spending two weeks in such cramped quarters, so far from anything remotely safe, was literally too much of a stretch for a feeling mind. To say these men were not brave beyond comparison, is to know nothing of true courage. If anyone has ever seen the movie "Star Trek: First Contact", my feelings can be compared to Captain Picard seeing Cochran's "warp ship" for the first time. My emotional state was quite similar.

From here, I toured the space museum and shot video for most of that. Seeing things like moon rocks, a lunar rover, detailed map sites of all of the moon landings, and endless information about every aspect of every mission, I was completely where I wanted to be. I was a sponge, soaking up everything - every image, every word, every model, every display, every sight.

I walked over to the Space Mirror next, and paid respects to those immortalized there. This is an amazing piece of engineering "sculpture". This wonderful memorial rotates and captures sunlight, then beams it through marble panels which bear the names of those astronauts who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

As I write this in March of 2003, I am saddened, knowing that there will be seven new names placed here soon.

From the Astronaut Memorial Space Mirror, I walked over and toured the mock-up, full-size shuttle orbiter, Explorer. This was also quite impressive. Finally, I was seeing, close up, the vehicle I had read so many books about, and had seen from a distance at Edwards AFB (several times). Things like the individual tiles, and how precisely they were shaped and formed together in a giant jigsaw puzzle all over the exterior were fascinating. The underside was spectacular in its complexity. For some unimaginable reason, I took no pictures close-up, though I did shoot some good video.

It was great to be able to be there and get a real sense of scale. That is something that photos just don't capture properly. The tour of the inside was limited to the cargo bay and the mid deck, but again, the sense of scale is what makes this kind of interactive display so informative. From this, it is now MUCH easier to understand video and photos I see from the interior of a shuttle on orbit. The late afternoon sun, and some glare producing clouds made for lousy lighting for the images below. This day would end here, but I would return tomorrow at noon, and have an entire day to see the rest of what I missed today.

It all made sense now, how they packaged this moon buggy onto the LM and got it down to the moon. Those NASA engineers are something else. It was inspiring to see what the human mind can achieve, when freed of constraints found in most other countries on this planet. Coming here should be a requirement for all patriotic Americans, and for anyone else in the world who wants to witness the "wonder" that comes from living in this free society. I only shot video of these things as well, saving the still film for the bus trip out to the launch pads.

This tour began with a pass of the Vehicle Assembly Building (above, right photo). This one of the largest buildings in the world, and has the volume of over four Empire State buildings. It is where the enormous Saturn V rockets were assembled, and where the shuttle is mated to the main tank and solid rocket boosters. I would have loved to have seen the inside of this awesome place. The first image below is the exterior of the IMAX theater and art gallery at the Visitor Center. The third image is the Launch Control Center. The last image is the incredible Crawler-Transporter. This amazing machine is like a huge jack-up platform on tank treads. It is what physically carries the shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad.

At the top of the fixed service structure (in the first image below) is the hammerhead lifting crane and the lightning mast. The external fuel tank hydrogen vent umbilical can also be seen. From here, we began making our way towards pad 39B, and the Columbia. We passed giant tanks of liquid hydrogen fuel on the way. This fuel is pumped to the orbiter in the hours before the launch. As we neared pad 39B, it became obvious that the rotating service structure here was in the orbiter checkout position. It would remain this way for the next few weeks, to protect the payload bay against the elements and weather being churned up by Hurricane Opal, which was in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Opal would end up smacking the Florida panhandle in the next few days, killing 59 and causing $2.1 billion in damage.

The photos below were the REAL prize of the entire trip, and are some of my absolute favorites. Some may look identical, but they are each a little different, and I could not choose which ones to put here. So, I put almost all of them. I had one of my fellow tourists shoot the two images of me with the shuttle in the background.