Kennedy Space Center, Lee's photos

We found out that KSC is going to be mothballed in the next few months.   All four shuttles will be retired (Friday's launch is the last mission for Endeavor).  The tour guide said the current employment pool of 11,000 will drop to 500.  At that time, the only way to reach the space station will be via Russia's space program.  The tour guide said Russia recently increased the cost per astronaut to 63 million dollars!  They are now "the only game in town".  Sad.  I hope the mothballing of the Kennedy Space Center will be temporary, we have learned so much through space science.

Anyway, here are Lee's photographs, the first of the external tank and booster rockets on the back side of the shuttle:

The photos below are of the exhibits of the moon landing missions.  This facility is really well done.  The exhibits are colorful and informative, with phenomenal artifacts.  There are rocks from the moon on display, space suits from various missions through the years, including that of Alan Shepard when he stepped on the moon; and a Saturn rocket that would have been used to launch one of the Apollo space capsules into space.

The module that finally landed in the ocean, at the very top of the rocket:

 

Below is a cutaway model that shows the lunar landing unit inside one of the Saturn rocket modules:

I was in high school when the first Apollo landed on the moon, and I don't remember a lot of these details.  It was fascinating to learn it all anew.  This panel shows how the lunar landing module was removed from the Saturn rocket before landing on the moon.  Can you imagine, all this in the infancy of space travel?  It was truly amazing, what our scientists and astronauts were able to accomplish:

Did you realize we had so many successful moon missions?  I am embarrassed to admit I remember only the first.  Where was my head in high school, I wonder?  The landings are indicated on the map of the moon below:

And finally, one of the Apollo space capsules, looking rugged and scarred:

I wish we had taken photos of the spacesuits.  Their evolution was fascinating.  The first were "hard" spacesuits, and looked more like robots.  They gradually evolved to the "soft" spacesuits that are used today, which allow for easier, more natural movement.