A visit to the Kennedy Space Center

Over Labor Day weekend I cruised from New York on the NCL Jewel, one of the first ports we stopped at was Port Canaveral, where I was able to visit the Kennedy Space Center, which has always fasicinated me, and I was not disappointed.

On our arrival at the Space Center, there were air-conditioned buses all with very knowledgeable Tour Guides, who do a running commentary of what we are seeing with lots of background information. The tour lasts for approximately two and a half hours during which time we were given an up-close look at the Space Shuttle launch facilities.

Seeing the 4.5 million-pound Space Shuttle, was exciting for me as it is the vehicle that carries the astronaut crew into Space. It is also the vehicle that carries various payloads such as satellites and the Hubble Telescope into low Earth Orbit. And It is the main primary vehicle assigned to take up many of the major components of the International Space Station.

We did not get to enter any of the buildings, but it was very interesting driving by the "International Space Station Center, which is next to Headquarters and near the Banana River and the Booster Retrieval area. Other buildings we drove by - the Vehicle Assembly Building, which has a extremely large US Flag on one side of the building; The Crawler Transporter and the special roadway built for it to transport the shuttle to the launch pad; both the Launch Complex's - 39A and 39B - and the Mobile Launcher Platform with the Rotating Service Structure and the Fixed Service Structure.

When the tour ended we were able to enter and visit the Apollo/Saturn V Center which features a 363-foot moon rocket, and where we went into the Lunar Theatre featuring the first moon landing. Just before leaving we were able to visit the IMAX Theaters - these are 2 giant theatres in which the dream of space travel comes alive. In one was the magnificent desolation of walking on the moon, narrated by Tom Hanks it features rarely seen NASA footage with live-action rendetions of the lunar landscape a quarter-million miles above Earth's surface. The other one has space walking Astronauts and the story of the Hubble Space Telescope and its impact on the way we view the Universe.

The final stop was at the Information Central, which is the start and end of the tours and the opportunity to visit the Giant Space shop which sells everything NASA

The John F Kennedy Space Center, KSC, has been the launch site for every every United States human space flight since 1968. These flights are currently on hiatus as the "Space Shuttle Program" ended in 2011. This did not mean the Kennedy Space Center was closed, it is more like a downsizing of the Space Center, similar to what occured at the end of the "Apollo Program" in 1972.

KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for the civilian space program, from three Pads at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and PAD 39A remains in it's space shuttle launch configuration. The visitor complex remains open and tours of the area are still be maintained.