Ricky
Big Rockets in Space
Today I went to Kennedy Space Center. We started
out at the Kennedy Space CenterÕs Education Classroom, where we had
a great presentation about the effects space has on different people
and materials. We got to play with gyroscopes, try on a space suit,
launch the shuttle, and use gloves to construct space components and
learn about peripheral vision. We learned about how hard it is to launch
a rocket to the moon because everything is moving.
Next, we got on a bus and went to the Vehicle Assembly
Building. It is the second biggest building in the world! There is an
U.S. flag painted on the building. The stars on the flag are six feet
from tip to tip. The stripes are big enough to drive a bus on them.
Then, we went to the observation gantry. We walked up stairs and took
pictures of the launch pads and rocket engines.
The
building with the Saturn V Rocket was next on our tour. This was the
best part of my day. The rocket is huge. It comes apart in stages. This
is the rocket that took people to the moon. I got to see a model of
the command module up close.
The command module orbited the moon while the astronauts
went down to the moonÕs surface.
They
had a real space capsule that actually went in space on display. The
outside was all burned up.
We saw an Imax movie made by the astronauts on the
shuttle. We did a scavenger hunt to find different kinds of information
about rockets and weights of equipment and the date of a launch. Then
we had lunch and I bought my dad a souvenir. 
Our next stop was the ISS (International Space Station)
building. We got to walk in modules to see what the inside rooms of
the space station are like. Then they let us go into a building and
watch them working on the real space station modules that will go into
space and be put on the station.
We saw Rick Searfoss, an astronaut. He was on shuttle
missions STS-77 and STS-90. He told us what it was like to be in space
and answered questions for us.
After that, I got to go in the gift shop. This was
quite a big day. I learned so much about rockets and going to space.
