To our wonderland of stardust, we’ll zoom our way to Mars...

The 140,000-acre John F. Kennedy Space Center is the principal launch site for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Here I am going to talk about the enormous Vehicle Assembly Building and its environs.

Except for certain restricted areas, the KSC reservation is designated as a national wildlife refuge. Canaveral National Seashore lies within the refuge area. These are open to the general public during daylight hours except when rocket launches or launch preparations are in progress. Not a good idea to be around when they are launching a rocket, it can get a bit hot!

The Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB for short, and believe me its the only short thing about it, stands 525 feet tall. It covers 129, 428, 000 cubic feet (3,6664,833 cubic meters) and is the worlds third largest building! Rumour has it there are clouds inside! It was originally built to accommodate the massive Saturn V, but has been adapted for the more diminutive space shuttles. It should be pointed out that these things were built standing up! Hence the reason for the massive building!

Before the advent of the Space Shuttle, spacecraft such as Apollo (Apollo 7 to 10, no lunar landings, then Apollo 11 to 17, which landed men on the Moon) lifted off from here; after that another five Apollo missions, four flights to Skylab the first United States space station, (first unmanned, then three manned with crews of three in each); and the Apollo/Soyuz Test Project mission (the link up of three U.S. Astronauts and two Soviet Cosmonauts) lifted off from Florida.

The primary launch at the Kennedy Space Centre is now Launch Complex 39. The tour of Launch Complex 39 includes a drive past Pad 39A, one of two pads at KSC capable of launching Space Shuttle vehicles. A mound located between Pads A and B provides visitors with a good vantage point from which to photograph both launch sites. When a launch takes place there is that much noise which (if let loose) would cause damage to the tower due the vibration the noise produces, that they have to dump 300,000 gallons (1.1,000,000 litres) of water onto/into the pad just seconds before the launch!

If you are really lucky, and I considered myself to be very lucky, you may see a Space Shuttle on the pad. So how lucky was I that day to see not one, but two shuttles sitting on the pad and coming back from one of those pads a crawler-transporter! The transporter is so damn big and heavy it has a maximum speed, when not carrying a spacecraft of two miles per hour! Not exactly a high performance vehicle, but stunning none the less to watch and admire for its sheer engineering spectacle, weighing in at a mere six million pounds (that's 2,727 metric tons)!

We'd take the path to Jupiter, and maybe very soon, we’d cruise along the Milky Way, and land upon the moon…

The John F. Kennedy Space Center is located on Merritt Island on Florida’s east coast. From here NASA launches Space Shuttles and rockets for both the U.S. Air Force and commercial companies, and Lockheed Martin launches Titan and Atlas rockets, and McDonnell Douglas launches Delta rockets, from the Cape Canaveral Air Station to the east. These are open to the public, but I would advise calling before dropping in.

Tours of Kennedy start at the Visitor Complex. In this section I will give you a brief run down of the Kennedy Space Centre then move on in more detail to the bits that made me go "ooooh!"

One of the highlights of the tour is the giant Vehicle Assembly Building, the Space Shuttle launch pads, the huge Mobile Launch Platforms on which Space Shuttles are assembled, and the slow moving and awesome Crawler-Transporters which haul the Shuttle on its Platform to the pad.

The Apollo / Saturn V Center. Ah! This houses one of the mammoth 363-ft (110m) tall Saturn V/Apollo vehicles that took astronauts to the Moon, and copious Apollo Program artifacts and exhibits.

Bus tours run until just before dark. Taking pictures is allowed everywhere visitors are allowed. Just make sure that you have your little badge on!

The building immediately in front of the parking lot is Spaceport Central, which has a huge number of fascinating and educational exhibits. At the information counter you can pick up schedules and free maps. When I see the word “free” it just encourages me to pick things up… I walk away with my pockets stuffed with free maps and leaflets.

North of Spaceport Central is the Gallery of Space Flight, where you can see real Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. They were recovered after their missions and brought here, to be preserved as part of NASA's history. The exhibits give an insight into the early days of the U.S. manned space flight program.

The Rocket Garden takes you from the tiny (and I mean tiny) Mercury/Redstone that lifted the first U.S. Astronaut into space, to the enormous Saturn IB vehicle. This Saturn launched three-man Apollo crews into Earth orbit during the Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project programs.

To the east of the Visitor Complex, there is a full-size model of a Shuttle orbiter. It allows the visitor a detailed look at the cargo bay, living quarters and cockpit of the orbiter. Not far from that there mock ups of two of the giant solid rocket boosters and external tank that supply the monster power to lift the Shuttle into space.

Way out in space together, Compass of the sky...

One of the great things about the Astronauts Hall of Fame is the fun side of space!

If you ask nicely, or if the man in charge can see that you are a bit of a space nut he will allow you to put on a parachute like harness and let you feel what it is like to walk on the moon. Yes. You're right, I did it! It was so much fun! I was bouncing about like a puppet on a string feeling the "moondust" under my trainers!

After that I headed towards the shuttle trainer. This is a computer flight, to be more accurate, computer landing simulator. I sat in the command seat, bringing home my own space shuttle. Okay, it took about 6 attempts to get close to achieving death-free approach and touchdown, but "Major Jim" could see the runway, guided his multi-million dollar spacecraft safely onto the welcoming earth and ground to a halt without killing all the crew on board.

I have to say my hands were clammy and my brow frowning as I brought that big white bird of a space ship home. I was grinning like an idiot. I had done it! More importantly, I had landed before my friend, also called Jim, had. He was about to have his tenth crash! Result! Childish? Yes! Satisfying? Oh yes!

Next! Next was flipping and zipping through ariel roll overs on board the 3D 360 degree flight simulator. Wooo hooo! Science is a wonderful thing!

Another joy awaited me. The Mercury spacecraft simulator! I climbed in. It was calling me! Would I be able to be as fast as the Mercury crew? The simulator gives you a number of commands that you must follow to test your reflexes. Was I fast enough and bright enough to be a Mercury astronaut? Ermm... no! The astronaut candidates of NASA have no fear of losing their places to me.

I was having a great time, but it was getting time to move on. We had arrived at 0830 and it was now 1230 and hunger was setting in.

We headed to the cafe for a slap up meal and a few soft drinks. After that, I headed to the shop to pick up some mementos of my morning.

As I have said before, this day I was 11 years old again and I was going to enjoy it. After this we headed towards the highway and on our way to Spaceport USA. What joys would await me at the John F Kennedy Space Centre? That is another story...

I'd fly around the universe in Fireball XL-5

The next doorway takes the visitor toward a large display depicting the evolution of the space race, then moves on to a historic collection of spacecraft including the Mercury Sigma 7 space capsule, a Gemini two man spacecraft trainer, and the Apollo 14 command module. There is also a tribute to the three astronauts (Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H White, and Roger Chaffee) who died in the Apollo 1 fire back in 1967.

Lighter moments give me the opportunity to sit at Mission Control consoles, which I admit (remember my mental age was 11!) I did sit at and recounted my own space missions in my head. I looked over all the information about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions that I had dreamed of as a kid. I use to land my little Airfix Lunar Excursion Module on its simulated lunar surface over and over again and I was the astronaut who set foot on the moon (as well as Mars) and discovered the wonders of the universe. ‘Ground Control to Major Jim…’ but I always made it back, and sitting at the console brought back all the old dreams and fantasies. Ah, the innocence of youth.

Being so close to Sigma 7 and to the Gemini trainer and the Apollo 14 command module made me realise something. Something I had never really thought of before. These things are small. Not just small, but really small. Mercury had a crew of one. Gemini a crew of two and Apollo a crew of three, but oh my, these things are really small. I once heard a description of a Gemini flight which was described something like this, ‘try to imagine sitting in the front seats of a Volkswagen Beetle with your best friend, for two weeks’. Now, that gives you an impression of how small these things actually were, not like the “luxury” of the Space Shuttle.I

In case you are not aware the maximum crew a shuttle can take comfortably is seven.

The next part of the Hall of Fame features displays and tributes to a number of astronauts that have served the cause of space exploration. The mission patches of all missions are featured and displayed as well as the world largest collection of astronaut personal mementos. And yes, I got all dew eyed looking at the cloth and Kevlar and steel that made up the patches and flight suits and spacesuits that filled my slightly misted vision.

I looked through and studied histories of the heroes I knew from watching moon-shots, (Apollo 15; David Scott, Al Worden, Jim Irwin, Apollo 16; John Young, Ken Mattingly, Charlie Duke; Apollo 17; Gene Cernan, Ron Evans, Harrison “Jack” Schmitt;) Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz link up of 1975. I remember seeing the floating images of the Americans and Russians wondering who was going to make the first move. Then the smile of Alexei Leonov as he greeted Donald “Deke” Slayton filled the screen. 

It showed that even if two “cold warriors” from different sides of the Iron Curtain (remember this was 1975) respected each other and were prepared to work together “for all mankind.”

I wish was a spaceman... the fastest guy alive

This morning I was looking through some boxes and found a photograph album. As I opened it I saw the photos were of a holiday to the John F Kennedy Space Centre in Florida back in 2000.

Every since I was a young boy… wait, this is starting to sound like the start of “Pinball Wizard” but never mind. When I was young I always loved the idea of being an astronaut. It looked cool! It looked exciting! It looked so much fun! I was brought up in the era of Star Trek, Thunderbirds, and Lost in Space. The chance to fly through the stars and see so many wonderful things would be such an adventure!

I was born the year after the Mercury Space Programme came to an end and a year before the Gemini Space Programme began. I was 4 years old when Apollo 8 circled the moon and 5 years old when Apollo 11 blasted-off from the Kennedy Space Centre. I was 11 years old when the United States and the old Soviet Union put aside some of its tension and shook hands in space. I loved the idea. I loved the dream. As I got older the dream gave way to reality and reality was dull. Reality means work and tedium, but dreams never die.

When a family holiday in the year 2000 was going to Florida, there was no way I was going to miss the chance to go the “gateway to the stars” no way! I wanted to see everything.

The journey to Merritt Island isn’t/wasn’t too bad. U.S. road networks, minor roads, interstates and highways are or were in 2000, a joy to drive on. The distance from where I was staying was only 55 miles/88km or so (110 miles/177km round trip, when fuel was only about $2.00 a gallon, didn’t hack into the spending allowance too much at all).

The “dream” began at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. When you first enter The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame you are greeted by a statue of one of the pioneers of the U.S. Space Programme. The statue is of Rear Admiral Alan B Shepard, the first American in Space.

Another item that catches the eye is the large painting, painted by former astronaut Alan Bean, depicting an astronaut reaching to the stars. Awesome! The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame is about 45 minutes east of Orlando on the SR405 and is just west of the Kennedy Space Centre. From the point I went through the door I was 11 years old again.

From the entrance hall you, the traveller, move through from the rotunda to a theatre where you can experience a gallery of images and quotes about space and the space race. A short history of space flight is presented, and when I was there the main contributor to this presentation was Robert Cabana.Robert Cabana is formerly a Colonel with the United States Marine Corps, and flew on a number of Space Shuttle missions. Currently he is the director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center. I didn’t know if Colonel Cabana had been in that room, but the spirit of adventure certainly was. Everyone in the room felt the same.

There was a look on everyone’s faces of how emotionally moved they were by this “one small step” on their way to the stars.