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astronaut

Discovery’s final space mission

Florida – oh, how I love thee. The perks of living in Florida doesn’t begin or end just being the Sunshine State with glorious beaches. We are fortunate to have Nasa Kennedy Space Center in our vicinity. Naturally, it was a poignant and emotional moment witnessing shuttle Discovery’s final flight into space yesterday. OK fine, I admit it was LIVE on NasaTV and I saw a teeny-tiny trail of shuttle launch in my backyard. That still counts as a live experience in my book 😉

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Part 2 – A visit to the Astronaut Hall of Fame

There has been so much going on in our lives recently, thus the absence from blogosphere. A lot to write and share. But let’s first continue where I left.

Continuing from our trip to NASA recently, we proceeded to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. PSA warning yet again – this is a lengthy-photo-post. Don’t steal, ask for permission 🙂

At the Astronaut Hall of Fame entrance

Alan B. Shepard Jr - first American in space

Alan B. Shepard Jr [the first American in space] statue graced the main entrance of this enterprise. It’s mesmerizing. Almost life-like.

The Gemini exhibit

NASA honors the first brave flyers who journeyed into space

Tarun is awaiting his turn for the GForce training stimulation

Tarun is in one of those capsules. Everything seems to look good, until...

aaahhhhh... the speed is mind-boggling!

The Gforce stimulator moves at a great speed and height!

The GForce stimulator is exhilarating! But be warned, it was a nauseous experience. Tarun was all swaying, left and right, with dizziness and slight headache. I was just a spectator, thank you 🙂 Of course the exhibition had a lot to offer. Interesting artifacts, informations, photos, collectibles, and historical time-lines all preserved for enthusiasts, tourists and such. I took so many photos, my bandwidth is crying 😀

Mercury mission spacesuit!

Space exploration is something that I have always been fond of. There is so much of information and facts to learn. Test your knowledge with this small trivia and win 1 free customized header designed by me 😉

Q1: When does NASA start counting down to a shuttle launch?

Q2: How many holds (when the countdown is paused) are built-in to a nominal launch countdown?

Q3: Where is the countdown conducted from?

Q4: Which Earth-launched satellite was the first to leave our solar system?

Q5: Apollo astronauts trained for Moon landings using the LLTV. What does LLTV stand for?

Q6: When in orbit on the Space Shuttle, astronauts experience ______ gravity.

Q7: When some shuttle astronauts reach space, they feel ill. This is called______.

Q8: The three space shuttle main engines release energy equivalent to ______.

Q9: On average, how fast does the shuttle travel while in orbit?

Q10: The first man in space was?

The winner would receive 1 free customized header designed by me! Good luck and may the force be with the one who is the first to correctly answer all questions in the comment section below 😀

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I needed a break from

…planning my menu > cooking my planned menu > cleaning after cooking my planned menu > vacuuming > scrubbing > dusting > planning another menu.. not again! Le sigh.. the endless list of household chores!

So, last weekend was a blast {literally} with a trip to Kennedy Space Center – NASA. Some might quote me as geeky, but I heart NASA 🙂 If only, whilst growing up, my parents had coaxed me more towards space engineering. Anyone out there, dream of being an astronaut? You have my blessings for sure 🙂

This is a lengthy post, filled with photos. Don’t steal, ask for permission before using any photos. Considered warned 🙂

If you are a Floridian, I would suggest getting the yearly pass to NASA, or for that matter, any Disney theme parks! Total tour takes a whole lot of time. With unlimited returns to NASA via a yearly pass, you can plan your trip and cover every nook and cranny. You have 1 year to do that anyways 😉 There’s a whole lot of exhibits, tours and gadgets to see, test-drive and familiarize with. We arrived around noon and was greeted by some gracious security personnel at the check point. It was a fast and easy-peasy process. They were absolutely friendly. I heart friendliness. After a click of the above photo, me and Tarun were famished and begin our tour by visiting the Orbit Cafe for a scrumptious meal of chicken fingers and fries. It’s fast food for us whenever we are on the road.

With a happy tummy, we proceeded for our first bus tour. This is not our first trip to NASA. We skipped visiting a couple of exhibition sites that we’ve visited before and instead, choose to enjoy the informational bus tours and clicked away endlessly with our Nikon 🙂 These photo’s below are some of scenery’s taken from the bus:

Awaiting to board the tourist bus

This is where the orbiter is fitted & engineered with the Solid Rocket Boosters 😉

The Crawler is used to transport the orbiter to the launchpad for the countdown 😉

Pebbled pathway for the enormous Crawler!

We returned to the Visitor’s Centre Rocket Garden and enjoyed a full blown view of orbiters, shuttle rocket booster and experienced a whooping simulation of a shuttle launch. Goodness! It was so thrilling! No photos allowed in the simulation as it was a very shaky ride. Wouldn’t want to hurt yourself or any one else! I could never understand how these astronauts are able to handle such working conditions, riskiness and pressures. Kudos to them, I can never do it because of my vertigo. And the fact that I am very well under-qualified 😉 Sigh… this is the little astronaut in me, spewing words from the beyond 😀 Enough of me, let’s get back to more photos:

A model of a solid rocket booster!

A model of an Orbiter, where astronaut's are housed during shuttle missions.

The Launch Simulation Hall.. Exhilirating!!!

That’s it for now! Stay tuned for Part 2 – our visit to the Astronaut’s Hall of Fame. Yes, this tour was a long and enjoyable one!

On a separate note, we want to take this opportunity to thank our readers and well-wishers for your continued support, love and participation during the 2009 Orbbies: Orlando’s Rockin’ Blogs competition. We are eternally grateful 🙂

So, what are your plans for the weekend? Anything in the lines of … 3…2…1… Lift Off?

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