Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Launch Complex 39 Pad A & Shuttle Discovery...

This was actually the second time I'd been to Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The first time was in 2001. I was coming down the East coast of the US, and went to KSC instead of going straight to Orlando.

All it did was thunderstorm on me. I didn't go out on the bus tour for precisely that reason, and ended up driving down the Beeline to Orlando. I took a couple of pictures of the Rocket Garden before it as done. The rest was video, or the camera stayed inside due to the rain...

In December 2006, PiC and I drove down to KSC to see a shuttle lift off. We were at mile marker 52 on Route 528, which looked to be a great place to watch the night launch from. At T minus 5:00, the very last moment a shuttle launch could be scratched, the launch was scratched. Bummer. I saw the shuttle lift off the next evening from Universal Orlando... Bummer, again.

In October 2007, I was coming down from a disappointing trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and once again found myself on I-95. We decided to stop in, since there was going to be a shuttle launch in 3 days. I ended up buying an Up-Close tour, which got you as close to the Shuttle as any mere mortal can go, without NASA's blessing. It was a very cool tour. I'd recommend it if they still had it...