...well, Yuku apparently doesn't like Android browsers. And since that's all I took with me....
Now that I'm home and on my desktop machine, I can continue:
SLC-5, on the anniversary of the first ever rocket launched from the Cape, a Project Bumper repurposed V2 with a WAC Corporal second stage. Then on to SLC-43, the site of the Apollo 1 fire that killed Grissom, White, and Chafee. SLC-43 has been mostly abandoned to the elements for a long time, but they still do basic groundskeeping, and there's a small "shrine" of sorts off to one edge of the old pad, with three marble benches each engraved with one of their names.
Had to be careful taking photos from 43, since it's within good photo distance of SLC-37, which is an active pad for ULA's Delta IVs, and there was one on the pad. And the Canaveral MPs have zero sense of humor about "oopsies."
Then the VAB tour on Wed morning, before my flight left. Holy. Crap. This is the tour that won't last long -- apparently, it was the SRB hazards for Shuttle that eliminated the VAB tours 30 years ago, and as soon as the SLS begins operations, the VAB will be closed to all but the bare minimum crew again (which, IMO, just hilights how stupid it is to use solids for crew lifters, but that's a rant for elsewhere). It's amazing how huge, and yet how cramped, it is all at the same time. And, of course, Atlantis was in High Bay 4, and we got to go right up to the fence and shutterbug it from 30ft away.
Hit Disney a bit too, but the heat and the crowds mostly killed it for me. Although I can say that, if you're ever at Epcot, the "Behind the Seeds" tour at the Land pavilion is well worth the extra money. I never knew that Disney did work in non-chemical pest control and hydroponic gardening.
Now that I'm home and on my desktop machine, I can continue:
SLC-5, on the anniversary of the first ever rocket launched from the Cape, a Project Bumper repurposed V2 with a WAC Corporal second stage. Then on to SLC-43, the site of the Apollo 1 fire that killed Grissom, White, and Chafee. SLC-43 has been mostly abandoned to the elements for a long time, but they still do basic groundskeeping, and there's a small "shrine" of sorts off to one edge of the old pad, with three marble benches each engraved with one of their names.
Had to be careful taking photos from 43, since it's within good photo distance of SLC-37, which is an active pad for ULA's Delta IVs, and there was one on the pad. And the Canaveral MPs have zero sense of humor about "oopsies."
Then the VAB tour on Wed morning, before my flight left. Holy. Crap. This is the tour that won't last long -- apparently, it was the SRB hazards for Shuttle that eliminated the VAB tours 30 years ago, and as soon as the SLS begins operations, the VAB will be closed to all but the bare minimum crew again (which, IMO, just hilights how stupid it is to use solids for crew lifters, but that's a rant for elsewhere). It's amazing how huge, and yet how cramped, it is all at the same time. And, of course, Atlantis was in High Bay 4, and we got to go right up to the fence and shutterbug it from 30ft away.
Hit Disney a bit too, but the heat and the crowds mostly killed it for me. Although I can say that, if you're ever at Epcot, the "Behind the Seeds" tour at the Land pavilion is well worth the extra money. I never knew that Disney did work in non-chemical pest control and hydroponic gardening.