We spent the day at the Kennedy
Space Centre. This is Melv stood next to Neil Armstrong’s space
suit – I have to say I think Neil wins the sartorial contest. It
was very interesting. I especially liked the “Garden of
Rockets” and getting up close to the Saturn V rocket which was lying
horizontal in its own exhibition hall (see
below). We also saw a 3D film about the Hubble Space
Telescope, its repair, and some of the images it has sent back. It was
the first time either of us had seen a 3D film (where
have you two been…..?)
A member of NASA staff was giving Status Briefings every
hour and we caught the end of one of them. He was saying that if the next
Shuttle hadn’t been postponed they would have had twin brothers in the
space station at the same time, but as it was one of them was scheduled to
return before the other one was (now) going to arrive. He invited
questions at the end and Melv and I chatted to him for a while about the wind
down of the space programme and its impact. He said 5-6,000 people would
ultimately lose their job but every effort was being made to encourage
aerospace industries to move to the so-called Space Coast, although it was
acknowledged they would never need as many people. He told us about the
commercial firm owned by Elon Musk who sold Paypal for billions which is aiming
to get the contract to transport people/payloads into space (in competition
with the Russians).
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You didn’t have to know
much about NASA’s function to see how much money they must have gone
through over the years. For example the aforementioned Saturn rocket was
a “spare” – it never made it into space. There are two transporters only one of which is
needed to take the rocket/shuttle from its enormous Assembly Building to the
launch pad (at 1 mile an hour). The Assembly Building is the largest
single storey building in the world and the Statue of Liberty could go through
the door with 150ft to spare. The gravel path between the Assembly
Building and Launch pad had to be especially strengthened to withstand the
millions of pounds of weight. The Shuttle Landing Facility (runway to you
and I) is 15,000 feet long and 300 feet wide, and there is an alternative in
California in case the weather isn’t conducive and as a last resort one
in Mexico too. Although the two Solid Rocket Boosters are jettisoned
after 2m 04s and retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean, there has to be a specially
designed barge to bring them back. One also presumes these people are
being paid 52 weeks per year, even though the launches are infrequent.
The area is also designat
ed a Wildlife Reserve and the
sight of a little armadillo trotting along caused as much camera clicking on
the coach as any of the space centre structures!
I picked up a marketing flying
from the diner where we had breakfast. “Florida Concealed Carry
Permit Course” it was headed. “This eight hour class is
designed to qualify/certify the state citizen to carry a concealed weapon”.
What made me smile wryly was at the top it said “Excellent Christmas Gift
Idea!!!”. Of course in the light of the shootings in Arizona where
a Congresswoman was shot through the head and six killed, there is nothing
amusing about it at all. But how is this for a coincidence? The husband
of the shot Congresswoman is that
twin brother astronaut who should have arrived at the Space Station before his
brother left.
I was listening to a radio report (memo to self…MUST send contribution to Public
Radio before I leave States) and the first law the
Republican-dominated chamber in New Hampshire passed in the new session was to
permit guns to be brought onto the House floor and nearby rooms. When
questioned about the message being sent to young people, Hudson
Republican Shawn Jasper said the children should learn the traditions and
history of the state. "This is an open carry state and while, for
matters of decorum, I do support only concealed weapons in the chamber,
anteroom and gallery, it is important that students understand this is part of
our proud tradition."