I went today to #KSCVC, where I worked for ten years doing #NASA education and outreach.
Yesterday they unveiled a new video board at the entrance. Called the "Kennedy Entry Experience," it uses JFK's September 1962 Rice University speech to describe NASA history -- from Project Mercury through today's #ISS to the future. A+, in my opinion.
Here come a series of photos from today's excursion around #KSC.
#BlueOrigin, owned by Jeff Bezos, is generally considered the main candidate to someday challenge Elon Musk's #SpaceX. This is their "Orbital Launch Site" on Space Commerce Way. Their NewGlenn rockets will be assembled in the big hangar.
The road is being expanded from one to two lanes each way with a center divider. (About time!)
Exploration Park is across the street from #BlueOrigin. The idea was to create a commercial space complex on #KSC property but "outside the gate" so commercial tenants wouldn't require security badges. It's managed by Space Florida, a state agency.
You enter Exploration Park on Exploration Parkway. You turn left on NewSpace Way. "NewSpace" is the handy term those in the biz used to describe commercial space companies that don't rely on government subsidies to operate.
The Space Life Sciences Laboratory was build by Space Florida in the mid-2000s. It serves #ISS customers. You can see the current tenants listed in the second photo.
The new Kennedy Entry Experience at the #KSCVC entrance. Check earlier in this thread for the complete video.
The #KSCVC main entrance. I used to lecture in the Rocket Garden.
(Some day I might post an audio of one of those presentations. 😱 )
The Space Shuttles rolled out to the pad atop giant gray boxes called a Mobile Launch Platform. The three MLPs were originally built for Apollo and converted for Shuttle.
They're obsolete, so they're being scrapped. In the second photo, you see all that's left of one.
(The crawlers are still around. They're being used for Project #Artemis.)
The Vehicle Assembly Building as seen from an observation tower about two miles away.
(Fun fact ... The original name was Vertical Assembly Building, but was changed in 1967 when someone pointed out that future assemblies might not be vertical. 😳 )
Launch Pad 39A as seen from an observation tower about 1½ miles away.
Perhaps the most historic launch pad in the world (although the Russians would argue that Baikonur's Site 1 deserves that honor), it was originally built for Apollo, modified for Shuttle, and is now used by #SpaceX for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
The big tower in the middle is new; SpaceX intends to use it for #Starship launch and landing, once operational.
@WordsmithFL I'll be interested to see how that works, considering that, in their initial test launch of a super-heavy, its exhaust blew its launch stand to literal smithereens upon launch, before disintegrating in mid-flight.
Kinda hard to land on a steaming pile of rubble.
@TwiHusband Which is why they're doing tests in Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX won't fly people until the system is mature. That's how it went with Falcon 9.
The FAA regulates crewed flight. They just gave SpaceX a list of 63 action items before they'll license another uncrewed test flight.
There's a lot about Starship that leaves me skeptical, but FAA licensing and oversight isn't one of them.
@WordsmithFL I keep recalling that the Sea Dragon super-heavy was conceived to be launched semi-submerged at sea because of a) the noise, and b) it was judged impossible to build a launch stand that could hold up to the exhaust. From what I saw of the initial launch of Elmo's beast that still holds true.
@TwiHusband I know that SpaceX has made significant modifications to the Starbase pad since the last test flight. We'll see.
Personally, I don't see how it can launch and land without a flame duct, like every other launch vehicle with any oomph does.
But I never thought he'd be landing rockets and launching them again either.
Let him eff up Boca Chica, just not here.