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.