Aerospace and Beyond

Sorry for the lag time in updating. Sometimes on my bike trips I get to having so much fun or

Pathfinder Shuttle Stack

doing so much riding or visiting with friends that time slips by until I realize I have a butt load of things to catch up on! It's easy to settle in to an update sitting in a hotel room alone, but not so much sitting in somebody's living room catching up on things.

Sunday, July 8th, Cousin Kimmie and Gary and I packed up the scoots again for another day ride. This time we followed the green dots on the Rand McNally around a huge lake to the southeast of Hunstville, before circling back for lunch at an awesome microbrewery in Hunstville.

Saturn V as you see it entering the hall

Then it was on to the US Space & Rocket Center for an afternoon of exploration and education. As soon as you park you can't help but notice the Pathfinder Shuttle Stack. This is the only full shuttle stack in the world and was the first orbiter ever built. It served as a non-flight test vehicle. We enjoyed a beautiful I-Max video called our Beautiful Planet before enjoying the endless displays and inter-active exhibits the massive campus has to offer. This is home to the Space Camp since 1982 and the facility was teaming with youngsters proudly wearing their uniforms and badges associated with the camp. With Kimmie

and Gary as my host guides, we wandered through the facility. Fortunately, since they have been there so many times, some of the displays had been changed, offering them some new experiences as well. The most impressive display by far is the full size Saturn V rocket mounted the length of the ceiling in the Saturn V Hall. This rocket was designed and built in Hunstville, AL. Hunstville is home to an expansive history of the US Space program, which I was totally unaware of.

Kimmie and me in the space station!

The displays included rockets, explanations of not only how they worked, but also how they were developed, and what failures they endured to get to the final product. You could see engines up close and the details involved with preparing something to go into space. The intricate details such as the tie wires used to secure nuts into place so they would not vibrate lose, was amazing.

They had an actual lunar rover on display as well as an explanation of the thoughts and theories involves with building it and designing the fold away options.

There was a space station you could actually walk through, that showed how the sleeping and

One of the many inventions in the invention hall

exercise areas actually were. The treadmill was mounted to a wall with tethers (that we also saw being used in the I-Max movie, which was filmed primarily from the space station) since there is no gravity, the astronauts can run on the wall!

There was one room devoted to various patents, which included a display of the original object along with the drawings or schematics explaining the concept and a description of the item. Some of the items became every day things that we still use today; others were vary unique and probably faded into

obscurity before the patent ink ever dried!

There were several capsules, both training and real, on display, as well as rockets and planes outside. Everything gave you a true sense of the magnitude of our space program and how far things have advanced; just like in twenty years, children won't know what a space shuttle was.

 We finished up our day with a stop at the Harley shop before heading back to rest for the week ahead.

Thanks so much to Kimmie and Gary for their awesome hospitality. They have a beautiful home that they have shared with me now for a second time. I feel so fortunate that my Buffalo gifted me with this part of the family and cannot wait to come see them again.

Peace all and enjoy the rest of the photos.

see below for what this is... and check out the tie wires!