Atlantis Shuttle Launch

Atlantis Shuttle Launch

After flying into Orlando Sunday afternoon, we were up early Monday morning to meet the bus at 6am. I am so not a morning person.

Our early departure from Orlando made us one of the first buses to get to the Kennedy Space Center and we were able to go on the Shuttle Launch Experience and through a mock up of the orbiter.

We were also able to pose for a picture, do some shopping and grab some food before we got back on the bus to go to the Causeway where we would watch the launch.
It was very hot waiting and we found shade under a nearby food service table.

Finally it was time...

Awesome!

We went back to Kennedy Space Center on Thursday to go on the regular tour and see the sites that are closed on launch day. It was a great trip.


This is Pad 39A where we saw the shuttle launch from.

This is one of two crawlers that is used to transport the shuttle to the launch pad from the assembly building. I'm not sure why this one was out, but I do know that they were planning on moving Endeavor from pad B to pad A a couple weeks after our visit, so it could be they were prepping for that. It doesn't move very fast, the three mile trip usually takes about eight hours. The tour guide said, "It's not a matter of how fast it can go, but how slow. It can move as little as 1/4 inch forward at a time." He went on to tell us that the shuttle has to be placed on the launch pad within a tolerance of less than one inch.