Kennedy Space Center

A few years ago our little family got the chance to visit the Kennedy Space Center.  Our girls were little and not as interested, but Bob LOVED it and I determined that I was going to come back one day without kids so that I could love it too.  When Bob and I knew that we were going to have a few days out in Florida, we made it a priority to spend a day at the KSC. I was so excited and the day was life changing. 

You know, when you are married, you want to invest your time in your spouse and as you grow in your years, sometimes the things that delight you individually aren't ultimately a mutual love.  Bob LOVES space, and NASA, and Space X and while I think much of it is interesting, I don't LOVE it like he does.  Part of that is also my fault because I don't invest my time learning enough.  I haven't ever taken the time to differentiate between the Mercury, Apollo, and Shuttle missions.  They all run together, but this time I decided that I really wanted to engage and learn.  Without kids to constantly push and rush I wanted to slow down and  listen, and the experience was probably one of the top 10 in our marriage.  Yep, it was that good.

We started the day in the rocket garden.  We had so much to do so we just started at the very beginning.  Seeing some of the replicas of old rockets was a great way to start the day, but I really didn't have any connection to them and I remember thinking, "Cool, but these aren't THAT big."  As we were walking through, a volunteer "astronaut" stopped us and told us to head straight to the bus tour and out to the Saturn V viewing center.  Given that we had no agenda, we listened and headed straight to the buses. 

This experience was utterly magical.  There is just no way to understand the incredible things we have done in the area of space travel, there is just no way to explain and transfer the magnitude of it.  The bus tour took us out to all of the infamous launch pads and by the VAB.  I have seen this building in movies for my entire life and driving by it, actually being within a half mile of it was absolutely cool.  The picture doesn't translate well, that building......ITS MASSIVE.  This is the building where all of the rockets are assembled before the Crawler (an amazing piece of equipment designed to cart the millions of pounds of rocket and fuel out to the launch pad) makes its journey down that rocky wide road.

39A.  Bob has talked about this launch pad and I will admit, I have had no connection to it at all.  Seeing it, realizing all of the missions that have left from this spot, realizing the astronauts that left from this pad that never came home........envisioning the hopes for the future.......I mean the astronauts who walked on the moon left from this pad........

Okay Bob, I get it.  Its really REALLY cool.

After the bus tour we were dropped off at the Saturn V museum where inside they have an actual Saturn V rocket.  Its BIG,  I mean SOOOOOO Big.

There aren't enough ways to describe this moment above......taking this in, realizing the enormity of this rocket.....HOW?  How did we launch that thing into space? and DUDE, did the guys riding at the top have some major brass balls.  90% of this rocket is explosives.........WOW.

But they did it. Our nation did it......but not without cost. 

Our goals were big, damn near impossible, and many people paid for it with their life.  When JFK gave that rousing speech, the one telling the nation that we were going to land on the moon even though we had yet to put a man into orbit within a decade, it started a push.

Apollo I, the very first launch after the moving and inspirational speech was the start of this exciting journey to the moon, we were going, and we had astronauts and engineers and scientists all on it.  Lets go!  

It was a routine test, just a test.  The 3 astronauts were put in the command module and locked in.  It was just a test, but something went very wrong and in the oxygen rich environment, a single spark turned the module into an inferno.  The first design of the doors was created to only open inward.....makes sense in the vacuum environment of space, but with the pressure of a fueled fire building, the doors wouldn't open.  The 3 brave souls answering the Presiden'ts call, died tragically, clawing against the door, while the engineers outside fought a losing battle.  They died, on the launch pad entombed in a raging inferno.....performing a test.

Walking through the memorial, I simply had no words.  Such sacrifice.  Imagine how everyone felt.  We didn't even get off the ground before we tragically killed 3 men, and you still want us to go to the moon?  YES, and now we all wanted it more than ever, for Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee.  Doing big things comes with high cost.  We now knew this more than ever.

11 missions later, inside of the decade, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Impossible is simply a lack of imagination.

We spent most of the day living the Apollo missions and I was honestly sad to leave.  The only reason we did is because we still had the Shuttle museum and Atlantas to visit.

I have seen it before, but there is nothing like this reveal........seeing the shuttle up close and personal is still a tear moving experience for me. 

We spent the remainder of our afternoon exploring Atlantis and riding a launch simulation, and remembering the brave men and women who died on the Challenger and the Columbia.  I have so much more understanding and respect for those who believed space exploration was worth the risk.

Doing hard things is always worth the risk, and setbacks will always try to derail and detour you.  I left our time at the KSC enlightened, amazed, honored, and excited.  I also left it personally motivated to find my way past my foot and towards my own big goals.  

So grateful for the opportunity to invest in my husband and live a day beyond the sky.