Space..the final frontier!

Even though we are now in the UK I will attempt to catch up on our adventures. After Universal Studios we drove out to the Kennedy Space Centre, about an hour east of Orlando. That place is huge. A bus took us for a tour of the complex past the all the launch pads, including the shuttle pads which have massive blast shields & a huge rain water tank to absorb the noise.  Surrounding the pads are 10 foot chain link fences with barbed wire on top..just like a prison...to keep out the alligators, or gators as the locals say. They all looked pretty sleepy to us. The tractor to take the shuttle to launch pad takes 4 hours and drives over 6 feet of concrete and crushed river pebbles and the shuttle 'garage' is enormous. Mission control was interesting and the mock take off sequence.
In the Space Centre there are plenty of hands on displays. I had a go at landing a shuttle..not very good I'm afraid. Crawled through a spacecraft and most exciting got to experience a real shuttle launch in a realistic simulator designed by astronauts. Incredible...you could really feel the G force. One thing is for sure those space men are made of tough stuff!
A full scale Saturn V rocket is housed at the Space Centre, which is super massive...I mean huge. Amazing. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is suspended in air but you can get close via walkways. Apart from the tiles everyone knows about I was surprised to see it also covered in what looked like quilting...space suit material. You can tell I am not technical. Anyway lots to see, learn and discover. Finished off in the rocket garden....objects taller than our boys! A brilliant day out....and Christmas comes to NASA too!!