My friend, Ray, was able to get V.I.P. tickets to the Space Shuttle Discover launch for the STS-124 mission at Kennedy Space Center from PAD 39A held on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. EDT. WHAT A MOUTH FULL!!! We headed over to the Visitor Complex on Friday for a mission briefing and then made our way back out there the following day for the main event.
Ray was so excited to find the sign to Kennedy Space Center that he launched himself out of his car with a direct hit onto the post.
We knew we were getting closer when we stumbled upon a space shuttle junk yard.
All this excitement made us hungry so we stopped over at the Whistle Junction Buffet & Grill.
Little did we know that everything within a 40 mile radius had the ability to launch at any given moment.
But Ray was quick to adjust to the situation.
We made it to the Visitor Complex!
We were most likely yelling out, "NAASSSSSAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
It was quite an honor to meet a broken NASA robot.
Ray gave the broken NASA robot no respect at all, but who cares it's broken.....
.....OR SO WE THOUGHT!!!
Both of us give two very small thumbs for the monster-size NASA sign.
Apparently Ray has seen prettier rocket gardens before.
It looks like it's going to be a fine season for rockets.
And #19 looks plenty ripe!
Ray should have paid more attention while he walked right into the Rocket Garden fountain.
I was proud of myself that I found a big one.
Ray was just getting up from tying his shoe and was surprised to feel the intense heat from an old rocket engine.
After the blast settled down Ray brought me over to the rocket engine and told me to look inside. Before I knew it the engine kicked on again I started to smell BBQ.
Ray pretends like he knows what he's doing.
I pretend like I'm not afraid of the orange space walk thing that's slightly lifted off the ground.
I was totally walking in slow motion.
Now it's time to get in this thing.....
.....and press buttons.
But Ray wouldn't allow me to have all the fun with the buttons.
Ray doesn't think there should be fire hydrants growing in the Rocket Garden.
But I didn't notice because I was so caught up in the moment since rocket gardens make me feel so alive.
Me, my good friend Xultrar, and Ray stop for a photo op.
This banner depicts one of the several possibilities NASA believes how the world may come to an end.
Somehow we ended up in an anti-gravity chamber and were somewhat startled by the bizarre occurrence.
After exiting the anti-gravity chamber we soon found a trainee inside a personal chamber of it's own, so we teased the astronaut for our own amusement until we were kicked out of the restricted area.
After getting the boot from security we found another space shuttle parked illegally next to a space trash can.
I don't know who was setting up the rocket boosters but they didn't do a very good job, so Ray went looking for help while I was getting a good work out.
Unfortunately, it took Ray a while to find any kind of assistance because he was busy trying to lift a huge marble out of a fountain.
We boarded yet another space craft and after a while Ray wanted to go back home to Earth.
I felt his pain because, I too, wanted to go back home to Oeyzin 9.2 and hang out with my good friend Xultrar.
But alas, both of us did not go back to our home planets just yet and stopped over at Mars. I wasn't sure how I got outside of the space craft and Ray didn't know how to get me back in.
Then we headed over to Earth's moon for a quick spin around in a genuine NASA moon buggy.
Ray doesn't understand why I always drive like I'm about to head into combat but he still finds it to be funny.
Ray takes a Jupiter-A rocket straight back to Earth.....
......and I hold on to the Jupiter-B rocket.
On our way back we were pretty sure we saw the Jupiter-C heading in the opposite direction, so Ray had to check out the scoop in an old-timey fashion when we got back.
The next day we headed back over to Kennedy Space Center to see the Discovery Space Shuttle launch.
The government spares no expense at notifying civilians about safety.
According to the sign Ray thinks we need to go up.
After jumping for about thirty minutes we realized we weren't getting anywhere by going "up." But we did find a shuttle bus that would drive us to a closer observation spot of the other shuttle along with a good view of the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Here's an even better view!
The clock was counting down and then stopped at 20 minutes, so we took a picture because it was a notable moment to witness NASA time come to a halt.
And now we play the waiting game....
.....but the waiting game was boring so we went into a building with more rockets 'n stuff.
This is what I should have been wearing when I was on Mars.
Ray didn't know what this thing was.....
......so he pushed his face against it as hard as he could.
I didn't even need to push because it was trying to suck me in.
Seriously, I didn't know what to do.
After getting my head out of that hi-tech thing-a-ma-jig we checked out a NASA rover fight off.
It was pretty ugly.
After all that excitement from those slow moving rovers Ray was pretty much spent.
But I woke him up so he could take a picture of me doing a tribute to the cast of Little Miss Sunshine.
It was almost time for the Space Shuttle Discovery to launch and we found the perfect spot for viewing.
We were not excited at all.
Here's the launch pad from about 3 miles away.
The crowd gathers around for the big show!
None of us were happy that we had to wait 2 whole minutes....
.....but people were definitely getting excited when it was 20 seconds!
It appears someone pressed the "Launch" button.
WE HAVE LIFT-OFF!!!
At this point I will allow you, the blog viewer, to look at these images and be in awe of the mighty shuttle.....
.....amazing, absolutely amazing. The mighty shuttle has left the planet.
"NAASSSSSAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
Me and Ray overlooking the launch pad before we head back over to the Visitor Complex.
We were lucky enough to have a retired astronaut on the bus ride with us, and he teased everyone by taking a poll to see how many of us have been into outer space.
Ray and I had a fun time at Kennedy Space Center, but now we must head back to Orlando in a ridiculous amount of traffic.
EENNNNNNNNNNNDD!!!!!
6.09.2008
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1 comment:
As per usual, I needs must leave a comment. Yet again another lovely bloggin' post.
miss cat
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