When I first arrived at the airport in Orlando, it was 1 a.m. Tired and exhausted, I stepped off the plane and WHOOSH!, a flood of hot air blew into me. Uh oh, I thought. However, I have been able to withstand the heat and humidity throughout my stay here. The initial signs of the Space Coast came as we were driving down to Cocoa (near KSC) when we saw bright headlights shooting out into the air. It must have been the shuttle!

After a good long sleep, we (my parents included) headed off to the KSC. We made a mistake and had to turn around at the security gate. Backtracking a mile or so, we instead went to the Visitor Complex. Seeing a bit of the exhibits there and the Rocket Garden, I was content until we joined Linda and the other Student Ambassadors.

Our last little space experience before seeing the "real stuff" was at 4:45 in the morning! It was then when I woke up in the middle of the night and went outside to see my first launch (no, not the shuttle). It was actually a Delta II rocket blasting off containing 4 Globalstar satellites. It was a glow of light that quickly headed off into the night sky. Of course, it wasn't as spectacular as a close-up shuttle launch, but I was hoping this was foreshadowing of interesting things to come.