Reaching for the stars

Saturday, March 10, 2012 ROCKLEDGE, FL – The three stars that represent the belt in the constellation Orion looked a little different to me in the night sky tonight, as I humped a load of laundry over to the RV park laundry room. Today, we had a closer look at them from the Hubble telescope. They may look like they’re lined up next to each other, but out there in space, they are actually quite spread out. Bedecked in red-framed 3D glasses, Val and I watched two amazing IMAX movies at the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex, one about the international space station and one about the Hubble telescope. It was a fantastic way of actually seeing what life is like in the space station, as we vicariously floated through hatches, took space walks and opened our mouths to catch blobs of juice floating in space. And floating off to delve into the nebulae of distant planets to see stars come into being was magical. Our visit to the centre began with a bus tour that brought us to the launch pad of the space shuttles that we had seen countless times on television when they took off. We saw them first from the bleachers where thousands of spectators gathered, miles away, to see the launches in safety. Then we drove close to the foot of the tower, with the Atlantic Ocean surf rolling to shore in great waves behind us, and a huge sky above us, full of gigantic cauliflower clouds. Our guide explained how a nearby water tower sent torrents of water around the base of the tower at lift-off to attenuate the surge of energy and sound that the rockets would spew out as the shuttle thundered skyward. We saw the fifth largest building in the world, where the shuttles are assembled, and the huge doors along one wall that open when it is time to bring the space ships to the launch location. Massive rolling platforms glide over a huge gravel road, inch by inch, till they are in the correct position. In the distance we could see the countdown clock, and the special observation buildings where the news media stand ready to broadcast their reports. History unfolded before our eyes with a film about the space race of the 1950s and a simulated count-down for a manned mission in a theatre that had the original tiers of desks and control panels used in the early days of the space program. Outside the theatre, suspended over our heads and covering more than a football field’s length, was the three-stage moon launch and the lunar module. We even got to touch a piece of moon rock on display in a small glass case! Space suits, scoops for moon rocks, and plaster molds of astronauts’ hands that were used to design custom-made gloves were on display in the space treasures room. Some guests who were willing to pay the fee were even able to have lunch with an astronaut. In another building, visitors could feel what it was like to be launched into outer space.