Day two at Kennedy and Astronaut Hall of Fame

We went back to the Kennedy Center for day two. The students walked into a shuttle so they could see how big it is. We watched two IMAX movies: one about the International Space Station and the other about the Hubble Telescope. They were amazing to see. We laughed when the astronauts threw m & M’s. I jumped at the launch when debris came flying at me.

Lunch at Kennedy. Mr. Hanks and I tried turkey legs.

Traveled to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. All the artifacts are impressive. It makes one excited to live in a country that has been able to fly to the moon and have our freedoms.

I was excited to see the Mercury capsule on loan from the Smithsonian. It was used for the third flight in space. I could see the wire fraying. I definitely would not fit.

         Mayra and Baneza waited in line for the G force simulator. They spun around real fast.





Esmeralda tried the hands on things to see how they work.

Esmeralda at the control panel used during Mercury.

Watch out we have several future astronauts…

Help I need a larger helmet…

 Mars meteorite.

    






These mirrors make me taller….make
         me wider and shorter.

                 Bing, bing, ha, ha, I scored a goal 

on you. Students had to move to    control the game. Hands raised up made it go up…squatting down make it go down. Baneza won both times making the top ten.

This is what the inside of the shuttle looks like.

The girls with Alan Shepherd. He was the first American to fly in space. There was many emotions as you look at what tools they had to get into space with. Our scientific calculators have more capabilities than the full room computers did back then.

                                                      Baneza studying the early astronauts.

Robot being taken to ISS on STS-133 to stay and conduct experiments.

One of the earliest space comic books.

Look what I got a picture of…

Letter written back to a student from John Glenn. He was so popular it took six people to help him keep up with his mail.





 Astronaut John Young's flying suit. Stephanie was very good friends with him. I really enjoyed learning more about him.

Two of four collectibles that after 25 years of not being able to find the owner were donated by the postal service to the astronaut hall of fame museum. Two of the four there are only 7 in existence. They were mailed from all over the world and had the autograph of                                                              the mission control.

Telegraph from President Ford after Apollo 1 disaster.

Mercury 7 astronaut suit.

Wow, we are here to see the STS-133 launch.





















Receiving the Distinguished Service Medal.

Who’s going to be first in space…all 7 Mercury Astronauts raised their hand. They were cocky test pilots…unafraid and believe anything was possible.  They knew they were the best.

Space souvenirs.

John Glenn’s flying suit.

Helmets of the test pilot astronauts.

Gemini capsule.

Apollo 1 lost to fire.

Challenger lost to o-ring failure due to too cold weather.

Columbia lost when wing fell off during reentry due to foam from external tank hitting it at launch. Original plans had it painted. Increased the weight by 1400 pounds and the cost by $750,000.  Therefore, they stopped painting it as it would not be reused but the insulation can come out. In fact, the delay that made it come to November 30 launch for STS-133 was a tear in the insulation.