Port Canaveral

21st October 2014

We come into port at Port Canaveral at around 7.30am, and are secured in our berth by 8.15am.  Port Canaveral is a man made port, and well set up for cruise liners.

                                                   Europa entering the harbour

Entering the for not far behind us is a European Ship, Europa, and already in port at the Disney Berth, is the Disney Magic.

We were ready to disembark soon after berthing, as today we visit the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. There are only two buses from our vessel doing our tour, and we are off to an early start, so hopefully it won’t be too crowded.

The tour is organized through the Space Centre, and the guide we get is excellent. We could see buildings that we thought belonged to the space centre as we entered port, and the most prominent one turned out to be the “Vehicle Assembly Building”, where they build the rockets.

Within 20 minutes of leaving the port on our bus, we are at the Space Centre, have to pass through airport type security, and then our tour commences. This place is impressive, even at a first glance. Immediately inside the entrance is the Rocket Garden, a display of past rockets that have helped define NASA’s history.

Our first stop is the early space exploration exhibit, which has on display, the Mercury and  Gemini Space Capsules (used),  and the docking station used for the first USA? Russian Joint program, where spacecraft from both nations  docked at either end of the station, and the astronauts shook hands in the docking station.

                                                        Gemini Space Capsule

There was also a moon buggy, and outside the building, in the yad, an Apollo Command Capsule.

The tour then took us off to an IMAX theatre where we saw a fascinating 3 D movie on the Hubble Telescope, including lots of images it has taken, and footage of several repairs and enhancements it has had over the years to keep it going.

Next is a bus ride, to the NASA section of the site where to rockets are assembled and launches take place. We were not allowed out of the bus, but it was an extensive tour covering surprisingly large distances between control rooms and assembly areas to the actual launch pads. The distance to the main lanch pad was 3.5 miles, which is the distance they have determined is required to expose observers to a safe noise level. Being too close would be fatal.

The rockets are taken to the launch pad from the assembly area on enormous crawler tractors, down a special constructed gravel road way.

The bulk of the NASA facility has now been leased to boeing, for the development and launch of their own, commercial space craft, for taking paying passengers into space.

Next is the highlight of the visit for me. We were taken to a huge building, entered through a theatre, where we were given a presentation on the program that led up to putting the first man on the moon.

Following the film, we were led into a cavernous building that housed a fulled sized Saturn V complete rocket assembly. It was intended to be the next launch (Apollo 18), before the program was abandoned, so it wasa real, fully functional rocket capable of being launched.

The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of the whole thing. It is impossible to capture it in one photograph, we are so close to it.

                                              Rocket Engines of Stage 1

                                                                     Stage 1

                                                                    Stage 2

                                                                        Stage 3

That was the end of the Saturn V and the rest of the assembly was the Apollo Modules

                                                  The Service Module

You are then given the opportunity to touch a piece of rock collected on the moon (it was basalt)

It was then back on the bus and off to the last exhibit at the visitors centre, a huge building containing the Atlantis, one of the space shuttles that have been decommissioned. She was the last one to fly missions into outer space.

Once again, it was far too large to capture in one photograph.

Just when we thought all of the excitement was over, the last part of the visit, is a ride in the space shuttle launch simulator, which was really something. The noise and level of vibration were incredible.

Back home to the ship, it was a very memorable day out and a visit not to be missed.

Back in port there is a new ship in, the huge Norwegian Breakaway, which we are told carries around 5000 passengers !!!!

As the afternoon goes on, the ships begin to depart. The Europa goes first, then the Disney Magic, and we depart at 8pm.