Hi, I'm Danny and I live in Colorado and go to West Middle School. I came to Florida with my science teacher Mr. Weiner to experience some new things like the Epcot Center, Discovery Island and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. But two places we went that were the most influencing places of all were Kennedy Space Center and U. S. Space Camp. At Kennedy I learned about space suits, shuttles and saw the 3-D IMAX film "L-5". At Space Camp, I was in the driver's seat. I got to experience the multi-axis chair. It was so fun! Well, I am going to tell you about my experiences at Kennedy and Space Camp.

At the Kennedy Space Center, I learned that the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) is where they put together the space shuttles before they go into space. It is the second largest building (by volume) in the world. I also learned that a complete shuttle weighs 3 million pounds. After a shuttle is put together, it is put on a big machine called the crawler and it takes it five hours to go three miles to the launch pad. I was told that putting paint on the external tank would make it 600 pounds heavier. I learned that the first U.S. space program was called the Mercury Program. At space camp we learned that a Mercury space suit was three layers thick.

I saw the world's biggest rocket called a Saturn 5. It was used to send guys to the moon. Our tour guide, Rosemarie, taught me lots of new things, like the Apollo space suit weighs 200 pounds. It is hard to imagine that a guy could wear that and move around. I went on a simulation of the last three minutes of the launch of Apollo 8. That was the first time we orbited the moon with people in the ship. I saw Jim Lovell's space suit. He walked on the moon. The face shield on his helmet is 24-karat gold, but it is only three atoms thick.

My trip to Kennedy Space Center is one I won't soon forget. At Space Camp I was a little nervous about going on the multi axis chair. I started to flip and turn and I realized how much fun I was having. While I was on the simulator I was not dizzy, but when I got off I was a little dizzy. I asked Rosemarie, "Why?" She said, it had to with your stomach being at your center of gravity. Each time I spun or turned on the simulator my stomach only move an inch or so. When I got off my stomach was moving all over so then I felt dizzy. The simulation was so cool! I hope many people who read this are lucky enough to visit some of the places we went on this classroom field trip. This trip made me understand how important it is for all of us to support our U.S. and International Space Programs.