Florida in January

Last weekend, Caleb and I took a quick trip to Florida.  We returned to the Kennedy Space Center.  This was my view most of the day:

Walking down the gantry to check out an Apollo capsule:

At the Astronaut Encounter, we got to meet Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden, who is the only Apollo-era astronaut who still does these presentations:

Checking out his future ride, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle:

We re-visited the Atlantis exhibit, where Caleb had fun making his way through the International Space Station mock-up:

  

We also got to tour the Launch Control Center.  This is Firing Room 4:

The view of the launch pad and crawlerway:

Caleb got to help out the tour guide by pressing the button to "launch" a video presentation of the last Shuttle launch:

The Launch Director's desk:

Here we are in the lobby by the Saturn V and Shuttle models:

Caleb got to touch a piece of the moon:

Caleb and the business end of a Saturn V (for scale, Caleb is just over four feet tall):

We had a great time, and since Caleb has become fascinated with shipwrecks, we also stopped by Titanic: the Artifact Exhibition in Orlando.  They didn't allow photography in there, so no pictures, but it was an interesting tour.  The guides are all actors portraying an actual passenger, so I imagine the tour could be a little different each time depending on your guide.  Ours was the ship's architect, Thomas Andrews.

We had a great time, and learned a lot!