Drive 2010 - Day 11 - Drives - Beneath the Waves

Drive 2010 - Day 11

Kennedy Space Center is a significant contrast to Space Center Houston (see Drive 2010 - Days 4 and 5), and after realizing how much more there was to see here, I was glad I'd left myself a day-and-a-half to take it all in.

Tourist Photos: Kennedy Space Center (Outside)

Rocket garden

Mercury Redstone rocket

Atlas-Agena rocket

Rocket parts

Saturn IB

Full-scale Space Shuttle mockup

The rockets standing upright in the "rocket garden" photo are, from left to right, a Juno I, a Thor Delta, an Atlas-Agena, and a Juno II. Lying down in the background is a Saturn IB.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

Tourist Photos: Kennedy Space Center (Inside)

Neil Armstrong's(?) Apollo spacesuit

Explorer 1: an elegant rocket for a more civilized age

Gemini capsule interior

Gemini capsule

Mercury spacesuit

Mercury Suit - 03

Space Shuttle payload bay mockup

Gemini spacesuit

The second Gemini photo is blurry due to low light, but I couldn't resist including it to show off the interesting design of the foam(?) section in the middle.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

During my visit, there were two special^[1] tours being offered: "Cape Canaveral: Then & Now", and "Discover KSC: Today & Tomorrow". It's only possible to sign up for one tour per day, so I chose the former because I wanted to be sure to be able to go on that one in case I didn't have time for a second the next day.

The "Then & Now" tour is intended for people with a love of the history of US spaceflight. It is very interesting, but a lot of it is about visiting the places that historical events happened, as opposed to seeing artifacts from those events. Being located on the ocean means that metal corrodes extremely quickly at Cape Canaveral, and so equipment and buildings are generally pulled down or sent elsewhere if they're not being actively used. So while the tour takes visitors to many places where launch pads used to be, there is often very little there anymore.

Two of the major exceptions are the Air Force museum located in the middle of the tour, and Launch Complex 34.

The Air Force museum deserves its own, dedicated tour. There is just not enough time to see everything it has to offer, and because it's on the military section of the grounds, the only way for visitors to get there is on the tour bus. The museum itself is part of the Launch Complex 26 blockhouse, but there is a second half of the tour in the LC-5/LC-6 blockhouse.

Tourist Photos: Cape Canaveral Tour 01

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse

Mercury Redstone rocket

Mercury monument at Launch Complex 14

Mercury monument plaque equation

Space Shuttle launch pad

According to the tour guide, the Mercury insignia is flared at the bottom to hint at the shape of an Iron Cross, as a tribute to the German scientsts who contributed to the programme.

I didn't get a photo of the entire plaque at its base, but it includes a great quote in Latin: "Si monumentum requiris circumspice" - "if you seek a monument, look around you."

If I understand the equation on the plaque [V_C = R_O√ g / (R_O + h) ] correctly, it is the formula to calculate orbital velocity [V_C], which is equal to the radius of the Earth [R_O] multiplied by the square root of (the force of gravity [g] divided by (the radius of the Earth [R_O] plus the altitude of the orbit [h])).

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

Tourist Photos: Cape Canaveral Tour 02 - USAF Museum

Missile guidance computer

Inertial measurement unit

Reaction control system thruster assembly?

Flight Termination Unit

Dyna-Soar spaceplane and Manned Orbiting Laboratory

Gemini B capsule

Discoverer/CORONA - the first reconnaissance satellite programme

MIDAS early missile warning system sensor mockup

Vela nuclear surveillance satellite model

Vela and Defense Communications Satellite Program models

Defense Communications Satellite Program models

Titan III transtage model with DCSP payload

Historical Burroughs rackmount computer gear

Operator's console - looks like 1950s-era?

Slightly more advanced(?) rackmount gear, this time in a 19" cabinet.

Some sort of monitoring/data-recording gear

Honeywell Visicorder oscillograph

Firing console

Assorted flight systems modules

I'm not actually sure what this is, but it looks complicated

Some sort of guidance-control system?

Another view of the mysterious assembly

I believe this is either a flight-recorder or a guidance system

More rackmount gear

One more rack shot

Delta IV first stage, launch gantry (far background), Pershing II missile, GPS ground station, and Corporal(?) missile

Bomarc supersonic surface-to-air missile

AGM-28 Hound Dog missile

Rocket nozzles

This museum is only accessible to the public as part of a guided tour, so if you go, be quick with your camera because time is extremely limited.

The Flight Termination Unit is the station the Range Safety Officer uses in the event that a vehicle must be destroyed mid-flight - a grim task if it is a manned craft.

Dyna-Soar was a USAF hypersonic spaceplane programme in the late-1950s/early-1960s which was unfortunately cancelled before it flew. We could have had spaceplanes almost twenty years before the Space Shuttle!

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory was another militarized-spacecraft project which fell under the budget axe - it would have been an observation platform for the Air Force, with the crew returning to Earth via a Gemini capsule attached to one end of the tubular station. The MOL was phased out in favour of unmanned surveillance satellites.

I believe the MIDAS sensor is a true thermal imager, from the early 1960s!.

The Vela (Spanish, "watchman") satellites were another example of technology far beyond what was typical of that era, featuring X-ray, gamma-ray, and neutron detectors. The military gets all of the best equipment!

The Honeywell Visicorder is the great-grandfather of Windows' Perfmon tool.

The Bomarc missile (and its cancelled relative, the SM-64 Navaho) are a really interesting mostly-forgotten branch of the Air Force - they functioned like cruise missiles, but were essentially robotic kamikaze ramjet aircraft, and were labelled "pilotless interceptors" by the Air Force. The Navaho (in its red and white paint scheme) just needs a cockpit to look like a 1980s anime fighter jet, but was flown thirty years earlier.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

Tourist Photos: Launch Complex 26 Firing Room

Firing Room

Stitched from five shots.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

Tourist Photos: Launch Complex 26 Firing Room Console

LC26 Console

Stitched from three shots. I had to apply a fairly intense unsharp mask to bring out any of the details, giving this photo a very Fallout 3 look, especially given the era in which it was built.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

Launch Complex 34 is the stark memorial to the crew of Apollo I - the launch pad test in which a fatal accident killed three astronauts and compelled NASA to make significant design changes to the Apollo spacecraft.

LC34 received significant publicity when Michael Bay gave it an appearance in Armageddon^[4]. You may remember it as the concrete structure with the plaque reading "Ad Astra Per Aspera (A Rough Road Leads To The Stars)".

In case you don't, here are a couple of screenshots:

Launch Complex 34 in Armageddon

Launch Complex 34 in Armageddon

Memorial plaque in Armageddon

What you may not know is that this plaque was affixed to LC34 by Bay's film crew! The actual NASA plaque is much less dramatic, but surprisingly, also much larger - the Armageddon plaque is quite small^[2]. According to the tour guide, when the NASA administrator at the time discovered the plaque, he wanted someone's head for "defacing a historical site" (or words to that effect), but calmed down when he was told that it was from the film crew.

In person, LC34 is a striking sight, especially after reflecting on what makes it different from all of the other historical launch pad areas - the others have generally been cleared down to the pavement, but at LC34, literally everything that will last in the sea air (that is, everything that's made of concrete) has been left standing. The launch platform itself has been stenciled "ABANDON IN PLACE". It is the astronaut equivalent of a battlefield cross.

Launch Complex 34

With other visitors for scale

Plaque added by the Armageddon crew

Then and now - LC34 with a United Launch Alliance pad in the distance

Armageddon plaque with visitors for scale

LC34 backlit

A metal halo

The real memorial plaque

The real memorial plaque detail

LC34 is a study in improvised memorial obelisks

Past/future contrast part 2

Abandon In Place

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-24
Version: 1.0

KSC - like Space Center Houston - also features a restored Saturn V rocket in a climate-controlled building (finally).

Tourist Photos: Saturn V Building

Saturn V engines

Saturn V engine detail

Apollo Lunar Module

Saturn V fuel tank inside the body of the rocket

Saturn V second-stage engine

Apollo Command and Service Modules

Apollo Command Module

Apollo Command Module - stripped interior

Saturn V components

Lunar Module interior

A wagon for astronauts

Lunar Rover control console

Apollo spacesuit

Another prototype hard-suit - this Litton Industries design splits diagonally across the torso

Hard-suit arms

This is what's under the white outer layer of an Apollo spacesuit

Another internal spacesuit layer - a later revision?

Alan Shepard's(?) Apollo spacesuit

Apollo video camera

Multi-layered helmet visors - neutral density, gold, Jedi lightsaber training

[ A somewhat <i>Dead Space</i>-esque glove ]

A somewhat Dead Space-esque glove

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-02-28
Version: 1.0

Tourist Photos: Apollo 14 Command Module

Apollo 14 Command Module

Stitched from 4 photos due to the close quarters in the display area.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-28
Version: 1.0

My visit took place just as the last work on the International Space Station was winding down, so most of what used to be in "the ISS building" was gone, but I thought it was great to be able to walk through modules like what were actually flown.

Tourist Photos: International Space Station Building

Mobile Surfacing System equipment rack

Gravitational Bio Rack

Human Research/Gasmap Equipment rack

Some sort of botany-related gear (labelled "Bottom Drawer Rack"?)

Standard Payload rack

Microgravity Glovebox

Fluids equipment rack

Express Rack

Fluids/Combustion 3

ISS interior mockup

ISS interior mockup console

Modules for ground testing?

Equipment rack

ISS module interior

The eerie spectre of Dave Bowman is just out of frame

Another rack shot

One more rack shot

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-03-05
Version: 1.0

A short distance from KSC is the Astronaut Hall of Fame. I almost didn't stop, but I'm glad I did - they've got a number of things you won't see elsewhere, and it was interesting to see that most of the astronauts with many missions to their credit didn't tend to be the ones that are mentioned most frequently in the news.

Tourist Photos: Astronaut Hall of Fame

Gemini capsule?

A 2000mm (f/10) lens which really is 2 meters long!

Gemini capsule?

Gemini capsule

Gemini(?) "grasshopper" spacesuit

Aircraft flight helmets used by astronauts

Life Magazine's photographers used the cartoonish 2-meter lens to obtain close-up photos of the Mercury launches from a very safe distance.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-03-05
Version: 1.0

Tourist Photos: Astronaut Hall of Fame Mission Control Console

Mission Control Console

This very high-resolution image was stitched from three photos, for anyone who is interested in building a replica. There is a very obvious stitching problem near the middle that I couldn't avoid without compromising the image in other ways, but nearly all of the details are visible.

Date Shot: 2010-07-15
Camera Body: Nikon D70 (Modified)
Lens: Nikon AFS-DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EDII
Filters: Schott BG38
Date Processed: 2011-01-28
Version: 1.0

Between Space Center Houston, Kennedy Space Center, and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, I managed to collect a nearly-complete set of "Barack Obama, remorseless assassin of dreams"^[3] patches:

No, Really Guys, We Will Totally Go To An Asteroid Or Something

Mission Patches

...as well as a "life imitates art imitating life" US/Russia joint ISS mission patch:

Joint Mission Patch

Full patch set

Joint mission patch detail

Back in the late-2000s, my Halloween costume was "Leonov crewmember from the evil mirror universe", with the main components being a full set of replica 2010 patches from SciFiGeeks.com (formerly PatchGeeks.com).

Of course, the joint US/Soviet theme in that film (and novel) was inspired by earlier real-world missions like Apollo-Soyuz.

It could just be a coincidence (I guess...), but it sure looks to me like whoever designed the mission patch for ISS Expedition 4 (launched in late 2001) was a fan of that film too.

Extremely nerdy trivia: In Serenity, Alan Tudyk's jacket has a modified version of the same 2010 patch.

Driving around Cocoa, I finally discovered an automated carwash ("Peachtree"). Unlike the ones I'm familiar with, instead of the car moving through it on a track, the car stands still and a robot arm moves the cleaning equipment around the car. This meant that it could be left unattended for use overnight, which is how I made use of it.

Date: 15 July 2010
Starting Mileage: 34012
Ending Mileage: 34077
Distance Travelled (Day): 65 miles / 105 kilometers
Distance Travelled (Trip to Date): 3888 miles / 6271 kilometers
Fuel Purchased (Day): 0 gallons / 0 liters
Fuel Purchased (Trip to Date): 130.510 gallons / 494.034 liters
Average Fuel Economy (Day): N/A
Average Fuel Economy (Trip to Date): 29.8 miles per gallon / 7.9 liters per 100 kilometers / 12.7 kilometers per liter

Footnotes

1.	"Special" in the "conventional" sense that any visitor could pay extra to go on one of these tours each day. I'm sure there are actual "special special" tours that require an invitation or friend with connections.
2.	I imagine this is to compensate for the focal length of lens used in certain shots, so that it seems to be the "right" size in relation to the actors.
3.	I know, I know, the alternative was worse. Supposedly.
4.	AKA "Michael Bay's best movie before he made the first live-action Transformers film". I am a big Michael Bay fan (with one major exception), but even if you aren't, hopefully you can appreciate the service he did by giving LC34 a guest role in Armageddon. If you've been reading my site for awhile, you may remember that I was not entirely pleased with the second Transformers film he made (see Drive 2007 - Day 05). I am happy to report that he seems to have learned from the error of his ways, because I thought the third one was a return to the spirit of his first.