Arrival, Kennedy Space Center

I flew into Orlando last night and got to my hotel around 8:00 p.m. Flying into Florida is like time traveling into summer, you leave in the fall and arrive in the summer. It's 80 degrees out today, beautiful blue sky with white puffy clouds, and the land is as flat as can be.

As I drove into KSC this morning, I went over a bridge spanning the Banana River. The best views around here are from bridges. When I was at the top, I happened to glance over (I was driving parallel to KSC) and shining in the sunlight was the VAB [Vertical Assembly Building]. It looked huge, the largest thing in the entire landscape. It dominated everything around it, trees looked like blades of grass compared to its mighty size. You never realize how different something feels in person as compared to a picture until you are there. I had seen pictures of the VAB before, but when I actually saw it live, I gasped. I said out loud (and there was no one in the car with me), "Hey look, it's the VAB!"

It was then that the first wave of excitement washed over me.

Shortly after, I was pulling into Kennedy. The first badging area I came to was the press pass area. The parking lot was full of TV vans and the line into the building was 30 people long. Reporters and camera people were all over, reporters in perfectly tailored suits with every hair in place, and the camera people looking the yin to their yang. When you see one reporter on TV it doesn't look that strange, but when you see about 50 of them in power suits, it's kind of scary.

After learning the lay of the land through a series of wrong turns, Brandt, my KSC cohort, came to the rescue and led me to his office. As we passed through the various gates, cars were backed up waiting to get in. Tour buses are all over, and there is a definite energy in the air. Driving across the causeway, Brandt pointed to the left. Off in the distance was the space shuttle, live and in person, waiting for its journey to space three days from now (today is Monday, Oct. 26th). It really makes you feel proud and part of something greater when you see it out there. It is absolutely amazing to think of the engineering and years of learning that have allowed us to get to such magnificent capabilities. And that's saying a lot coming from a generation X-er!