I have been telling all of my friends, you need to go! If you're planning a visit to the Central Florida area, be sure to stop by (an hour's drive from Orlando) and bring your kids. Pretty amazing right? Look at the wingspan!Ī group photo of the astronauts in attendance for the grand opening!Īs you leave the exhibit, you get see underneath the Shuttle. You can see inside the cockpit.Īs far as I know, it's the only Shuttle display in the country that has the Shuttle's payload doors open. I do have to mention, I'm really impressed with the lighting in the building because I was able to get great shots!Īt times, I felt like I could reach out and touch the shuttle. I brought my 24-70mm lens along and could not capture the shuttle in one shot, even though I was able to get a pretty wide angle. When you're ushered into the room with the Shuttle Atlantis, the lights over the shuttle is glowing blue kind of like she is in orbit.Īfter 26 years of service, 33 missions and traveling almost 1.26 million miles, it's only fitting that the Shuttle that flew the final Space Shuttle mission is at home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, not far from where all of the shuttles lifted off from. I cannot say enough how awesomely designed this exhibit is! Kudos to the workers, designers and construction workers who brought it all together. Curtis talks about getting a little choked up too. The film is well done and I have seen grown men cry - the way the KSC Visitor Complex designed the film and the way you're introduced to the shuttle has me beaming with pride (every time) and it's hard for me not to come to tears too. Totally cool moment when two astronauts spoke to the crowd from the International Space Station!Īfter entering the building that houses the Space Shuttle Atlantis, you're ushered into a theater that shows you a short film on the development of the shuttle program.Īnd then you're taken into a second amazing theater, I don't want to spoil the surprises but it's an amazing experience. His hope along with many others like me, is for kids to see the shuttle and be in awe of it and become inspired to take more science courses and explore a career in the sciences. exhibit at the Smithsonian when he was a kid. Robert Cabana, former astronaut and current director of Kennedy Space Center, remarked on how he wanted kids to be inspired by the shuttle display the same way he was inspired by the Wright Bros. It was amazing to have at least one astronaut from every one of Atlantis' mission in attendance. He introduced astronauts from Shuttle Atlantis' 33 missions. Photo by Curtis me standing on the risers because I'm so short!ĬNN's John Zarrella was the MC for the grand opening ceremony. Thanks to Andrea, Christine and the rest of the KSC Visitor Complex team for making my visit to the grand opening possible! What an amazing experience that Curtis and I will cherish forever! iPhone Photo I was so excited to share get to experience it with Curtis.Ībove: entrance to the building that houses the Space Shuttle Atlantis a full-scale,ġ84-foot-tall vertical replica of the space shuttle’s external tank and two solid rocket boosters. So when it was announced that the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex would become home to the Shuttle Atlantis, I was so excited! This was a couple of years in the making…when the grand opening weekend came, I was even more thrilled. What you're witnessing is, a vehicle crafted by humans getting ready to launch into space and as an American, I would feel proud for our space agency and proud of the accomplishments of our astronauts. ![]() The delay in the sounds you hear and the roar in your chest fills you with pride. ![]() There's nothing like being able to witness a shuttle or rocket launch as close as they let you (which is a few miles away for safety reasons). I was fortunate to be able to see two shuttle launches up close at Kennedy Space Center, one in November 2009, the STS-129 mission which was the Shuttle Atlantis and a NASA Tweetup for the STS-134 mission which was Shuttle Endeavour. ![]() The sense of awe and wonder was always there along with a sense of pride. Years later, when I moved to the Space Coast, I could see day and night launches right from my backyard or the balcony at my office. When I was a kid attending elementary school in the Orlando area, whenever there was a shuttle launch, our teachers would take us out to the bus loop or an open field in a single file line and we got to watch the shuttle launch. I don't have to prove what a nerd I am, right? The shuttle program and the Space Coast has been near and dear to my heart since I was a kid. In June, we were invited to attend the grand opening of the Shuttle Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
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