Exploring Outer Space

Ned here. Today's big event was our trip to the Kennedy Space Center. We arrived around 10 a.m. and were pleased to see that not too many other people were there. We think maybe the day after Memorial Day weekend was a good day for us to attend. Our first event there was watching a 3D IMAX movie about the repair of the Hubble Deep Space telescope. There were some really gorgeous scenes in that film of distant galaxies. Next we took the ride on the Shuttle Lift Off Simulator. That exhibit did a particularly good job of explaining all the steps before and during liftoff. One thing I learned that I had always wondered about was why you see a bunch of sparks underneath rocket engines several seconds before they actually finish the countdown to liftoff. Turns out those are intentionally created to burn off any excess hydrogen which might be present, thus avoiding an unintended explosion prior to liftoff. We then spent some time looking at the exhibits in both the Early Space Exploration and the Astronauts Hall of Fame, which were both really interesting. As part of these displays we both tried our hands at some flight control simulations. I'm not sure how Debi performed on these, but I'm sorry to report that I managed to crash my vessel twice into the space station, along with smashing the space shuttle into the landing strip, although I was successful at landing the lunar module onto the surface of the moon! Having spent nearly 5 hours(!) at the Space Center we decided to head north towards St. Augustine. We were not convinced that the town of Daytona Beach has aged very well, as Debi has memories of it being extremely cool when she was in her early teens. However, the seemingly endless miles of spectacular beaches which ran north of the city impressed us greatly. Once we arrived in St. Augustine, Debi was completely with the feel of the old part of town. We spent a long time just walking around the quaint little streets, taking photos, as the sun fell lower in the sky. It was a very beautiful way to few the place, and appreciate all the old buildings and their charm. I'm sure we will be spending lots of time there tomorrow, as Debi has now found another town which she has fallen in love with! See today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Anastasia State Park, FL