Kennedy Space Center

      

  It took about thirty minutes to get to the Kennedy Space Visitor Center from our hotel. The space station is built on a small island east of the coast of Florida. On the way we saw many marshes and lots of tall grass. When we got there we parked and went to the entrance. We didn't have to wait in line for a ticket because we already had one. We entered, and the first thing we did was go to the bus station. The buses were going to tour us around the Space Center and show us launch pads. Our first stop was a lookout where people watched launches. We passed a machine called a Crawler which moved the shuttle to the launch pad. The machine went one mile per hour because of the massive weight it was carrying. We also got to see where the shuttles were put together. The building was the largest building according to it's volume. We were able to see the shuttle because there was going to be a launch very soon. When we got to the top of the lookout we saw the two launch pads. This is where the people watched the take-off.

            We had a snack and then departed for the second stop. We rode in the bus, and because the island we were on was a nature preserve we were able to see small crocodiles in the ponds and streams. The people who worked at the center helped protect and clean the environment. The bus took us to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. We watched a short video clip of the launch and then moved into the room where the real space rocket was. The rocket was enormous and probably could have stretched across a football field. We looked around and decided to have lunch. We had lunch then got a souvenir and left to go back to the visitor center. It took us about ten minutes and the guide showed us a bald eagle's nest. It was supposedly the size of a king size mattress. We were able to see the bald eagle too. We came back to the visitor center and we looked around even more.

         We went to a movie theater and watched two movies about space. Each movie was about one hour and thirty minutes and both took place in space. One movie was about life in a space station and the other was about fixing satellites and how they were built. Both of the movies were in 3-D. We finished watching and took a small break.  My family and I went into the gift shop and we looked around.  Our family likes to collect coins, so we pressed a quarter and added it to our collection. Then my dad, sister, and I went on a space shuttle launch simulation. The ride was not that fun because the ride only tilted at a small degree. The ride was supposed to make us feel like were being launched. After the ride we went to the the rocket garden. The rocket garden contained many different rockets from the past. My sister and I took a picture in one of the rockets. The museum was starting to close, so we started to leave. We got in the car and drove back to the hotel.