We traveled about 20 mile north to the Kennedy Space Center today. Judy and I visited it on a prior trip, and we wanted to see it again on this trip while nearby.
We hadn't considered it was spring break for school kids. Every school in the county is on a break, and all kids with an adult ticket received free admission to the center while on break. Consequently, the center was packed with lots of kids and the lines were very long waiting for buses to the tour locations and other attractions. It was hot and humid, crowded, with constant noise from groups of young school students. Not the best environment for us old folks.
Nevertheless, we finally got on a bus for a tour of the complex. A new attraction since we were last here is a stop at LC-39 with site attractions and an observation tower with excellent views up and down the coastal launch facility locations. You got off the bus at this location, and when ready, got on an arriving bus to the next stop the Saturn/Apollo building with exhibits related to the Apollo/Saturn program that put astronauts on the moon in 1968.
On the way back to the Visitors Center there is also a building dedicated to the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle is in the building along with exhibits related to the space shuttle program. Our "fun meter" had pegged out by then and we skipped that attraction.
The space center is essentially an educational amusement park, a great place to learn about the USA space programs history, and sort of a Disneyland for families with young kids. I suspect many visitors to Disney World also travel here. For us today, it was hot, long waits, and a lot of noisy young children. It was good to see it all (most of it) again, but we are not sure it is worth a return trip unless you are lucky enough to see a launch while there.
The highlight of the visit, however, was to get a relatively close-up view of the Artimis 2 spacecraft scheduled to lift off on April 1st with 4 astronauts and circle the moon.
After a long hot day, we cooked steaks outside on the grill.
We leave tomorrow for Tallassee, our first stop heading west for home.
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