Spent the day at KSC for my birthday

[G'th]

It was pretty amazing, even what with living less than 20 minutes away from the center. Something that really struck me about seeing all of these rockets, the shuttle, and especially the Saturn V itself, is just how big they all were. On TV and in pictures you never really get the sense of how large all these things were. Especially with the shuttle. When the display screen lifted up and I saw Atlantis for the first time up close, I almost immediately realized that my mental image of the shuttle was about 3x smaller than it actually was. And even with the Saturn V it was something that hits you like a brick wall.

It was really something else.

Here's some selected pictures I took. Theres quite a bit more but because I didn't think to bring my higher quality camera (these were all iPhone pictures) they didn't all come out right. I'm really kicking myself too because there was a really good place under Atlantis where you could really see the heat tiles up close but in the picture all you can see is black. In reality, I could make out streaks from where the reentry heat flowed.

And here's one of me where you can see the front end of the cargo bay for the shuttle.

Edited June 30, 2014 by G'th

[architeuthis]

Nice. I've been wanting to go since they opened the Atlantis exhibit. Alas, Florida is a long way from Oregon:/

[Thesonicgalaxy]

Went there a couple weeks ago on my trip to Florida as well. It was awesome!

Funnily enough I'm one of those odd balls that thinks they're a lot smaller than I thought they would be.

[DerpenWolf]

I went there on the first day of the year it was fantastic! I was even lucky to go on a tour of the VAB ( not sure if they still offer it) and see the shuttle pad up close!!

[Redjoker]

Although I haven't had the chance to tour KSC, about ten years age I got the chance to tour the US space and rocket center and the Marshall flight center which also has one of the few full Saturn V's and a full shuttle set up using the pathfinder test article. Being ten or so at the time, I was amazed by the size. A few years later I also got to tour the Houston Space center and a two years ago I got to tour the national museum of the US air force.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Redjoker

[G'th]

Found another good one of the External tank and the SRB's. It was really something else to stand under it.

[spaceman1999]

Who else was thinking Kerbal space center?

[Red Iron Crown]

Who else was thinking Kerbal space center?

Guilty.

Great pics OP, despite your lack of a good camera. Thanks for sharing!

[shynung]

Who else was thinking Kerbal space center?

LOL, seconded!