Shuttle Launch - Monday, November 16th

We had the most incredible experience on this day!! We went to the Kennedy Space Centre to see the launch of the Space Shuttle.  

Cape Canaveral is only about an hour from Disneyworld, out on the east coast of Florida.  We had to get up early in the morning to head out.  We had tickets to watch from the space centre.  By the time we knew that we were going to be in Florida at the right time, all the tickets to watch from the closer viewing area were already sold.

At the Space Centre there is a launch simulator where you get to experience what it would be like if you were in the shuttle.  Riders are taken though the countdown to launch and feel the G force similar to a launch.  There are also games, activites, and tons of information on air and space flight.  There is an area outside with dozens of space ships and rockets from various eras.  They even have their own Imax theatre.  They have a kennel there so we could bring the dogs as it was going to be a very long day away from the campground.  

 We watched the actual lift off on a big screen in front of us, but we could see the shuttle as soon as it cleared the tree line, which was about 2 seconds after the launch.  It was pretty 
amazing to watch!  We were able to see it up until the time when the huge rocket boosters were used up and came off, and then we could see  it on the big screen too, as it reached space and separated from the main fuel tank.

Everything went smoothly.  

This shuttle was taking supplies up to the Space Station.  There are only supposed to be 5 more shuttle launches, and then this part of the space program is being curtailed.

One of the items they took into space was a scarf worn by Amelia Earhardt.  When we were visiting the Smithsonian a couple of weeks ago, we learned all about her adventures and the records that she set in the field of aviation.  It is so cool how these things all fit together!

It just so happens that today (the 27th) the Shuttle returned from it's journey.  We were watching from our campground, but we could not see it from here.  We think that we may have heard the sonic boom, though, because as it comes in to land, and it slows down from super sonic speed, two booms can be heard over the landing area.

We had a tee time already booked for today, or we might have gone back out to NASA to watch it come down.  We didn't realize it was coming in so soon.  We were chatting with another couple in the campground who are from Stony Plain (small world) and they mentioned that it was returning today.  We watched it on TV as it was happening right above us, so that was really cool!