You know, for every pretend rocket launch I've ever imagined as a child... for every "3, 2, 1, blast off!" I've ever enacted... this was absolutely the coolest thing ever for the kid in me. Well, that and having my own life size Optimus Prime, but I'm still working on that one. Anyhoo, it's hard to imagine that there are actually people up there, much less people working up there. Endeavour's mission, code named STS-130, will deliver the last major NASA module to the International Space Station. The six-member crew will perform three spacewalks during the 13-day mission to attach this module to the station. Basically, they're gonna install a big window so the astronauts can have a 360-degree view of outer space. Pretty neat.
Speaking of nice views, it's now 6am and the sun is rising. We've been hanging out at the Kennedy Space Center for the last 2 hours checking out the cool rocket exhibits. The wifey and I are still on our high from witnessing this awesome spectacle of a launch... which can only mean one thing: we're about to re-enter the atmosphere, or in other words, we're about to come crashing down. Big time. Things are starting to look a bit woozy; we're beginning to feeling a bit blurry; there's obvious nonsensical babbling occurring between the two of us. And all this without a single drop of alcohol. I guess this is what a lack of sleep will do to you.
So, in a bout of homelessness, we check-in to the nearest luxury hotel... our compact rental car. Yep, there's nothing quite like sleeping on the fully reclined seat of a Chevy Cobalt. Fortunately for us, we're prepared for such a situation and brought pillows from our real hotel. Unfortunately for us, we forget to roll down the windows for ventilation. You know those horror stories you hear about people leaving their babies or pets in their cars and how they like die from suffocation? Well, for 4.5 hours, we're pretty much knocked-the-f*ck-out and slowly suffocating in our own little CO2 death chamber only to be awaken by the wifey's gasps for air. C'mon, a little oxygen deprivation never hurt anybody... right? It was a really good nap though.
Since we're still alive, we figure we'd get out and explore the rest of the complex... which includes a 36-story replica of the Saturn V rocket that sent the astronauts to the moon, a visit to the NC-39A launchpad where the shuttle just blasted off from, and a tour of the International Space Station Center to see parts being prepared to be sent up to the station... kinda like an assembly line at the Jelly Belly Factory, but with space stuff instead of jellybeans. It's all really cool to see. 
So anyhoo, I just realized that we spent the past three days camping out in near freezing temperatures, braved horrendous traffic, deprived ourselves of sleep, paid $10 for a soggy hot dog, and almost asphyxiate ourselves in our car... all for two minutes of bright lights and loud bangs. Would we do it again? Absolutely. | Follow us on flickr! |
Working in Outer Space
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