Bus Tour- Part 2

The second stop on our random bus tour was to the Saturn V Center. This was definately the biggest surprise of the entire trip. What we were about to see would blow our minds, and we had no idea it was coming!When we entered the center, we watched a welcome movie about early space travel and our journey to the moon.
I like President Kennedy. Unlike our current President, he inspired our nation to be excited about space, and motivated us to be the first to the moon. He understood the importance of not limiting ourselves to our planet.
After the movie, we entered a room which had real Mission Control, when it was in FL. This was preserved just like it was back then. We were part of a simulated launch, which, even though pretend, was very exciting.
All the dials lit up, and spotlights followed each station's launch sequence as a narrator played each part. When the rocket launched, the whole building shook, and you could see the fire out the windows behind the computers. It was pretty cool!
Once the launch sequence was over, doors opened to reveal the Satun V rocket. BIGGEST THING I'VE SEEN IN MY WHOLE LIFE! I can't even fathom how they could blast this baby into space. It is the size of 2 shuttles! Those are 5 F1 engines!
Several crews flew in the Satun V Rocket, all their mission patches were hung along the length of the rocket.
I couldn't even put in to words or capture a picture to show the size of this. All the rockets in the rocket garden couldn't come close.
If you enlarge this photo, you may be able to see how this thing compares to common structures. But, really, I have no way to describe the giganticness of this rocket.
Remember the VAB? This was originally built to get the Saturn V Rocket flight-ready.
This is one tread of the crawler. Same crawler that was used to move the shuttles, also moved the Saturn V Rocket.
One more glimpse of the massive engines!
The first men on the moon flew up in the Saturn V rocket. Misson Apolo 11.
This is the Lunar Module. It's what the people landed on the moon with.
The module was wrapped in this special foil to protect it from the heat of the sun.The command module was the piece of the rocket where all three astronauts stayed for their entire trip. It was tiny!

Model of the rocket attached to the launch platform.
Early astronaut suit.
Me touching a piece of moon.
Robb is standing next to a lunar buggy, used to drive around the moon.
Another early astronaut suit.
I can't remember, but I think this was Apolo 13's command pod. They didn't clean it after their dramatic trip.
Very cool moon rocks!
They were very very old!
They had some pretty interesting things in the museum part.
This is the actual space suit worn by Al Shepard, first astronaut in space!

We definately had a fantastic time on our random bus tour! On the way back, we passed by an 8 foot eagles nest! It was pouring rain, or I would have a picture. But it was quite the sight to see.