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Erik & Smisty's Florida Oddventures


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what was the Starfleet show about? Maybe that was the part that the ticket lady said was for kids?

 

I guess that's a possibility. (Though she certainly never indicated that she was talking about Star Trek Live only.)

 

I've blanked out much of the half a show that I actually watched. But I think that the audience was supposed to be recruits for some earlier version of Starfleet Academy. Then the party is crashed (via video screen) by a very Nero-like time-traveling Romulan, some Vulcan chick shows up to help you, many bad jokes are told, and then you leave the theater before it can hurt your brain anymore.

 

Oh, and no Guinan hats. Sorry.

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I've blanked out much of the half a show that I actually watched. But I think that the audience was supposed to be recruits for some earlier version of Starfleet Academy. Then the party is crashed (via video screen) by a very Nero-like time-traveling Romulan, some Vulcan chick shows up to help you, many bad jokes are told, and then you leave the theater before it can hurt your brain anymore.

 

This still sounds better than any show BGT has put on before their Halloween event. I still have nightmares about Ctrl-Alt-Deceased...

 

dt

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Did you happen to notice if the space center is still operated by Delaware North Companies (DNC)? They have a special way of taking things that are/were really cool, and either not maintaining them, or running them into the ground without updating EVER so badly that they are no longer cool or interesting.

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This still sounds better than any show BGT has put on before their Halloween event. I still have nightmares about Ctrl-Alt-Deceased...

dt

 

Aghh! Crtl-Alt-Deceased flashbacks!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLBljvEG-M

 

To get back on topic, this looks like a larger version of the Star Trek Exhibit I saw in Sacramento.

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Continuing our boring coverage of Cape Canaveral....

 

The Kennedy Space Center Tour is included with admission to the Visitor Complex, where it also begins and ends. Currently, the tour stops at the LC 39 Observation Gantry and the Apollo/Saturn V Center, though I've been told that other stops have been substituted for LC 39, when there was something interesting going somewhere else.

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Tours leave the Visitor Complex every 15 minutes.

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We pass by the VAB, but don't get to go in it. Maybe that will change eventually, now that the Space Shuttle is no longer in service.

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First stop, the LC 39 Observation Gantry. Now, this place might be pretty cool if you were actually watching a launch from it. But, as it is, it's just a big observation tower with not very much to look at.

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There's also a small televised presentation and a model of a Space Shuttle on a launch pad. So if that excites you, go for it.

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Not that you'd want to be much closer if there was a launch, but this isn't very exciting.

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Ooh, it's a Space Shuttle engine...thing. There's also a snack bar and a gift shop back on the ground level, but those are hardly worth mentioning (even though I just did).

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Back on the bus, Gus.

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So here we are outside the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Basically, the bus drops you off outside, and then you have to wait around for the next preshow to start so that you can go indoors. Not the best system.

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Here you can watch a recreation of the Apollo 13 launch, if there were no people controlling or monitoring it.

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And finally we enter the main exhibit hall, dominated by an actual (I think) Saturn V rocket. Unlike LC 39, and despite my snarky comments, this place is actually pretty cool. (At least, if you like Apollo-era (which, let's face it, was the best era) space stuff.)

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Astronauts used to be cool, manly men who drove Corvettes and smoked Marlboros.

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Ooh, a model of the thing that's right in front us! Awesome!

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I'm...not really sure why Snoopy is here.

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The Moon Rock Cafe is definitely a better bet than the snack bar back at LC 39.

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What the...? In all my years of Oddventuring, this may very well be the greatest thing I've ever seen.

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Like, why not just remove them? Or at least, you know, turn the water off??

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I tested them. Water comes out! Seriously, NASA, what the Hell?!

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Here's some other stuff. I don't know. I really can't focus now. I'm still thinking about the forbidden water fountains. How sweet would that water have tasted? How dangerous? Perhaps I would have developed space powers....

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The Corvette was cool. This...this is not cool.

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"Yes, yes, isn't that interesting? It's a space capsule!"

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In the Lunar Theater, you see a recreation of the Apollo 11 landing. It's actually rather good. Quite moving, too, in its way.

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Next to the Lunar Theater is an exhibit of stuff that went to the moon. And, you know, space capsules.

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Somehow I'm imagining that the moon is quite germy.

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This lunar rover did not actually go to the moon. (And how do we know that, space nerds?)

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The ever-so-appropriately-named gift shop and exit.

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And back to the Visitor Complex. Honestly, I think the Apollo/Saturn V Center may very well be the best thing at KSC, and should not be skipped, despite the inconvenience of the whole bus thing.

 

And that's it for this update. Make sure to comment on it, so that I know you want lots more from Kennedy Space Center!

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WTF?!?! Maybe it's special moon water? Or water that contains alien organisms!?! I think you should have taken some in a water bottle and submitted it for testing.

 

I'm taking the tour next month just to see if that water fountain and sign are still there.

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^ Hell, those water fountains alone have me reconsidering that trip now. Wait, no, I just came to my senses.

 

I've never been a huge fan of the space program, yet when showcased the right way, it's strangely very intriguing and mesmerizing. Somehow though, even with the wealth of history this whole place can pull from, it manages to fail in so many ways....from what I've seen anyway. I remember my brother going on a school trip many moons ago (yes, that was sadly intentional...sorry) when they were able to tour that huge building. To me, that would probably be the only thing worth the price of admission. Oh well.

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WARNING! GEEKY SPACE NERD TRIVIA!

 

 

 

Snoopy was recruited by NASA to be their unofficial mascot, and Charles Schulz was so honored by the NASA request that he granted NASA free use of Snoopy. For the Apollo 10 mission, Snoopy was the name of the lunar module, and Charlie Brown was the name of the command module. Schulz also did a few strips with the world famous beagle going lunar -

 

 

NASA also has the Silver Snoopy award - a special honor awarded to NASA employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success -

 

 

And now you know the rest of the story.

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Oddventure.

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It was so great to see Canaveral in pictures again, man! Before my family moved from Tampa, we saw the last Saturn V launch at night (I may have been 7 or 8); all I remember was the roar and for a short time it was suddenly daylight again.

I've been in the VAB (must have been 83 or 84, I think) and that is a seriously scary building if you have a fear of tall free-standing ceilings, which I do for reasons that..lol I dont talk about that much.

 

Thanks again! Great TR!

 

Kevin [who used to be Scott Mayfield but killed the stage name/alter ego because it was getting boring]

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I know some people say the only thing interesting to them would be to go into the "big building" (VAB), but the Saturn V rocket (moon rocket) is incredible to see I think. The rocket is 350 feet tall and to think a 35 story structure lifted off, 40 years ago, to the moon is just amazing to me. Not to mention, the Shuttle is the probably the most advanced piece of engineering hardware ever built. Although, I'll admit, if you're not into engineering, space, or science, the tour's probably not going to be worth it for you. Still, considering some reports say engineering and science make up 80% of the country's GDP, NASA's had a huge hand in defining this country the last 40 years.

 

Hey, Ron Toomer used to work for the space program before designing coasters too!

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The mystery of the Space Water Fountains may never be solved.

 

And yes, the Saturn V is a real rocket. It used to sit outside (like the other one in Houston) until they figured out the weather wasn't being kind to it, restored it, and built a building to hold it safely for perpetuity. Which is pretty darn awesome, methinks.

 

Plus it's WAY more dramatic to have a door open, then *wham* see it sitting there.

 

And someone correct me on this, isn't the Launch Control room in the opening part of the Saturn V center the actual old school consoles and such? I seem to recall they kept them after an upgrade and installed them in there. In Houston, Historic Mission Control sits empty as it's a national historic site, so a new control room had to be built nearby.

 

If you want really old school history, they used to (and may still do) offer a "Then and Now" tour of the old Mercury-Redstone facilities, including the blockhouse where they launched Alan Shepard & Gus Grissom from... with battleship steel armor, and electronics that came from 1950's scifi. And a farm-type scale to determine if the rocket was full of fuel.

 

Yes, I'm a giant space nerd.

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