Even a rocket scientist (or Aerospace Engineer) approves

Have been to Cape Kennedy many times over the last 35 years.  No manned flights have happened since the Space Shuttle was phased out in July of 2011 with the final flight of Atlantis, STS-135.  The US has been sending up our astronauts via the Russians, and Mars is now in the far future (hopefully not past my lifetime). So, why bother touring the space port?  Am I a cynic?


Good news.  There is a lot of space stuff going on.  New heavy lift rockets; the US is back in the manned flight business in 2017 with SpaceX and Boeing, and the plans for the Mars missions are beginning to take form.  And if nothing was going on, the concessionaire who took over the Cape Kennedy Tour, has built a Disneyesque theme park.  The star of the park, Shuttle Atlantis, which has a specially built building to display this space vehicle's final resting place.



We saw some great exhibits, including the future Mars RV that Morey was checking out when it is time to replace BIW.

Took the "Then and Now" tour, which took us to many of the older Cape Canaveral sites including the blockhouse and launchpad where Alan Shepard rode the Mercury-Redstone on a 15 minute suborbital flight.  The first one for the US.



Continued on the tour back to the Saturn-Apollo complex.....
and discovered where the unused Saturn V rocket went, when the Apollo moon program was cut short by lack of funding.  The largest, most powerful rocket now resides suspended from the ceiling in the new Saturn-Apollo tour complex (sans engines and fuel - good thing).

Yes, this former Aerospace Engineer, has pulled out his slide rule and calculated that Cape Kennedy is a Florida attraction not to be missed.