Kennedy Space Center November 1

Monday morning we traveled an hour to the Kennedy Space Center. We met Stephanie Donald, Kathy Collins and Rebekah Collins.

Stephanie told us fascinating history of NASA. Someday I hope I can have the wealth of knowledge that Stephanie has. I really enjoyed all there was to learn.

We went on the simulator that allows us to experience what it was like to launch. My checks got shook real good. I enjoyed the experience along with the students.

We heard Astronaut Riley talk about his experiences in space. I enjoyed learning about the mission patch that he designed. He showed us where his children were in the patch and explained what each part meant. He had a great sense of humor. I was very interested. So were the students. They had their hand up to ask a question but were not called upon.

We walked over and around the monuments to the fallen astronauts. It meant more to me as Stephanie explained that she had trained witth the Challenger crew. I had strong memories of the Challenger blowing up. It is one of Mr. Hanks's first memories. I was glad that we could reflect and ponder. The students recognized the sacrifice that each of them had done for us. I learned a lot from Stephanie. We watched the fish jumping, turtles, and looked for crocodiles...never found any.

The highlight of the day was as we were eating lunch we met Mitch Currah. He ran the human simulators at the Houston Space Center. He was one of the heros responsible in helping to get Apollo 13 home safely. What an incredible honor to get to meet him. He joined us at Stephanie's for burgers. I enjoyed learning about his career at NASA. It was interesting to learn that he had been in his twenties during this time. The average age of NASA engineers had been 25. Engineers went elsewhere as the work they were doing seemed crazy. He said we knew we would get Apollo 13 home safely. They worked around the clock. The wives made food and sent over to them. They only slept maybe 3 hours until Apollo got home safely. He said the orginal astronauts were test pilots and were daring and cocky. They would need to be to take the risks that they did.

Star Trek...how do we fly!

Our future is assured!